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Forestry : 

An Elementary Treatise. 



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AMERICAN LUMBERMAN, Manhattan Bidg.. Chicago 



Forestry 



An Elementary Treatise 



BY 



Herman H. Chapman, M. F. 



Assistant Professor of Forestry, 
Yale Forest School. 



AMERICAN LUMBERMAN 

Chicago, U. S. A. 

1912. 



6 



^^'^^ 






Copyright 1912 

BY 

American Lumberman 



Price, $1.25, postpaid. 



£C:.A31V)335 



Contents 



I. General Definition 7 

II. Eelation of Forestry to Government 9 

III. Scope of Forestry as a Profession 11 

IV. American Forests 14 

V. Silvics 15 

The Forest versus the Single Tree 15 

Struggle for Moisture and Light and Its Effect on the Form of 

the Tree 16 

Early History of a Forest Stand 18 

The Forest Floor and Its Effect on the Soil 19 

Differentiation of Crown Classes 20 

Old Age of a Stand 21 

Silvical Characteristics of Tree Species 22 

Effect of Heat on the Distribution of Trees 23 

Soil Moisture and Its Eelation to the Life of Trees 24 

Characteristics of Soils Affecting Soil Moisture 25 

Effect of Soil Moisture on Competition of Species 26 

Struggle for Light as Affecting Competition of Species 27 

Tolerance 28 

Indications of Tolerance in the Form of Trees 30 

Formation of Forests of Tolerant versus Intolerant Trees. . 30 

Duration of Life of Trees 32 

Eeproduction of Trees and Stands. The Seed 33 

Distribution of Seed 33 

Extension of the Forest on to Abandoned Pastures 34 

The Seed Bed and the Seedling 35 

Eeproduction by Sprouts 36 

Forest_ Types 37 

Basis for Distinguishing Types 39 

Forest Enemies. Fires 40 

Eesistance of Trees to Fires 41 

Nature of Forest Fires and Their Effect on Forests 43 

Other Forest Enemies 44 



VI. Silviculture 46 

Eelation Between Silvicultural Operations and the Value of 

Wood Products 46 

Planting 47 

Cutting the Old Timber to Secure Eeproduction 49 

Silvicultural Systems 50 

Strip and Group Systems 50 

Clear Cutting with Seed Trees 50 

Selection System 51 

Changing a Selection Forest to an Even- Aged Form 53 

Eeproduction of Even-Aged Stands by Successive Cuttings. . 54 

Sprout System 55 

Unwise Legislation Eegulating Silvicultural Methods 56 

Nature of the Investment Demanded by Silvicultural Oper- 
ations 56 

VIL Fire Protection 58 

Fire Fighting 58 

Fire-Breaks 59 

Fire Laws 61 

Fire Patrol *.. 63 

VIII. Tax Laws 65 

IX. Forest Mensuration 66 

Timber Estimating 67 

Determining the Growth of Stands. Yield Tables 68 

Current Growth of Stands 69 

Growth of Individual Trees 69 

X. Forest Valuation 70 

XI. Forest Policy 71 

Influences of Forests on Climate 72 

Influences of Forests on Streams and Soil Erosions 73 

Government Eegulation versus Government Ownership 73 

History of National Forestry in United States 74 

State Forestry 76 

Agricultural Soils versus Forest Soils 77 

The State as a Producer of Timber : 78 



FORESTRY. 

BY HERMAN H. CHAPMAN. 

[Born. Cambridge, Mass., 1874; B. Sc, University of Minnesota, 1896; B. 
Agr., University of Minnesota, 1899; Superintendent Northeast Agricultural 
Experiment Farm, Grand Rapids, Minnesota, 1898-1903; M. F. Yale, 1904; 
Forest Assistant, U. S. Forest Service, 1904-5; Instructor in Forestry, Yale 
Forest School, 1906; Assistant Professor of Forestry, Yale Forest School, 



1907.] 



I. GENERAL DEFIKITIOK 



To the question so frequently asked, ''What is For- 
estry?" it would be difficult to give a concise and satis- 
factory answer, for forestry is a union of many elements as 
widely different in character as those which enter into 
the activities of a city like Chicago. 

But the foundation of forestry is the growing of trees 
as a crop to be cut and used. Everything else hinges on 
this principle. The mere growing of trees is not forestry, 
for they may be intended as shade trees or for ornamental 
purposes. To cut them for the wood they contain would be 
to destroy their real usefulness. So the planting and care of 
shade trees is not forestry. The forester should know 
about these things, but they are a side line, the specialty of 
the landscape gardener who does not need to know any- 
thing about true forestry. 

Nor is the mere cutting and marking of timber, true 
forestry. Too often the lumberman cares nothing about 
the growth of his timber, or the possibility of ever getting 
a second crop from the land which he is stripping. De- 
structive lumbering and forestry are at opposite poles. 
Lumbering is in reality a very important department of 
forestry, but the distinguishing feature remains, as before, 
the actual growing of the timber. 

In recent years, with increasing public interest in for- 
estry, lumbermen are becoming more anxious to be known 



8 FORESTRY 

as practicing forestry. It stands to reason tliat no lumber- 
man can be practicing forestry who does not definitely in- 
tend to cut a second crop of timber from his land, after the 
first cutting. And at least part of the value of this second 
crop should be obtained from the growth, or increased size 
of the timber he leaves at the time of the first cutting. 
At present it is the almost universal custom of lumber- 
men to cut every stick of merchantable timber and then 
sell or abandon the land. If a second cutting is obtained 
it has usually been because at the time of the first cut 
it did not pay to take out small, knotty, or defective timber, 
or timber of certain species was not saleable. As the value 
of all timber became greater, the lumberman found he 
could return and conduct a second operation profitably. 
Often, when considerable time elapsed between the first 
and second cut, the small timber had really grown much 
larger and more valuable. But the chief increase was al- 
ways in the price. This may be forestry, but it is not in- 
tentional, and does not in any way cause the lumberman to 
depart from his working principle, which is, to remove ev- 
ery stick of timber now, provided it can be done at a profit. 
When the timber owner holds forest lands to profit by the 
actual growth of the timber, or logs it in such a way that 
he deliberately and purposely leaves an investment of seed 
trees or young timber which must grow to give him returns 
on his money — then and not till then, can he be said to be 
practicing forestry. 

The truest conception of forestry is that of devoting 
land permanently to forest production. Successive crops 
of trees are grown upon the same land and these crops are 
either cut clean and replanted or are made to reproduce 
themselves naturally by seeds or sprouts. In European 
states, where forestry has been thoroughly established for a 
century, there has grown up a very definite classification of 
lands into forest land and agricultural land. Upon the 
forest soils, considered too poor for agriculture, can be seen 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 9 

all stages of forest crops, from the seedling up to the ma- 
ture timber in the process of removal and reproduction. 

This conception of forestry has only dimly begun to 
take root in the public mind in America. Too often, for- 
estry means only forest preservation. The cutting of tim- 
ber is fiercely opposed on general principles. In the con- 
ception of such persons, public forests are merely public 
parks, to be preserved as such. This view is at total va- 
riance with the treatment of forests as crops of timber, and 
where it prevails, the practice of forestry becomes impos- 
sible. 

n. EELATION OF FORESTRY TO GOVERNMENT. 

But while timber is a crop, there are many features 
which put it in a different class from the agricultural crops. 
The latter are harvested annually and produce a constant 
and regular income. Their production can be left entirely 
to individuals, and the only relation which agriculture has 
with the government is in the indirect efforts put forth by 
experiment stations and through publications intended to 
instruct farmers in better methods of cultivation. Could 
the growing of timber be carried on exclusively by private 
parties, to the complete satisfaction and safeguarding of 
the interests of the public, the two occupations would be 
very similar, and forestry might truly be regarded as mere- 
ly a branch of agriculture. 

But universal experience proves the absolute contrary. 
Whenever the management of forest lands has been left 
entirely in private hands, the public interests are entirely 
ignored and a short sighted, often ruinous policy of forest 
destruction has been the rule, ultimately forcing the public, 
through their governments, to interfere for their own pro- 
tection. And in regions and countries where governments 
have been unable or unwilling or not wise enough to in- 
terfere, the final results have often been almost complete 
ruin and depopulation of the country. 



10 FORESTRY 

From the public standpoint, the interests are several. 
The product, wood, is almost indispensable in many impor- 
tant lines of industry. Substitutes are being continually 
forced into service by the increasing scarcity of wood, but 
for many uses they are not so satisfactory. New uses are 
appearing for wood, and the demand along established 
lines shows constant increase. The growing of wood will 
not only secure a continuance of the supply of a multitude 
of essential articles which enter into our everyday life and 
comfort, but the industries which are now engaged in the 
manufacture of wood products, and the logging and market- 
ing of wood will continue to employ men and distribute 
wages. Then comes the public interest in the protection 
of soil and waterways. Private owners can and do ignore 
the possible effects of forest removal on the flow of streams, 
the erosion of soil and the welfare of their neighbors fur- 
ther down. Just to the extent that these results are inju- 
rious, is the government called upon to prevent them in the 
interests of common justice. 

The relation of the government to forestry is greatly 
strengthened and the ability of private owners to grow 
timber crops much lessened by the long periods of time 
which must elapse before trees reach sizes large enough 
to furnish profitable crops of timber. Pence posts may be 
grown on rich agricultural land in 10 to 15 years, but 
timber grown on true forest soils, takes 40 to 100 
years to mature. During the time the crop is growing the 
owner gets very small returns if any, and his expenditures 
for planting, protection and taxes roll up at compound 
interest to a large sum. If to this certain expense, is added 
the uncertainty that he will live long enough to receive 
any benefit from his exertions, be^^ond the satisfaction of 
leaving his estate to relatives or descendants, we can un- 
derstand the chief barriers to private forestry on a large 
scale. Even corporations, which are looked upon as fairly 
permanent, cannot plan too far into the future, since they 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 11 

must earn regular dividends and manage their holdings 
for present rather than future revenue. None of these 
drawbacks apply to state or national governments, whose 
interests are perpetual. 

Enough has been said to show that the raising of tim- 
ber crops is a matter which ultimately concerns not merely 
individuals as such but the whole public, as acting through 
the government. Even the private efforts to grow timber 
need the encouragement of the government, both in educa- 
tional lines and in protective measures, such as fire laws. 

ni. THE SCOPE OF EORESTRY AS A PROFESSION. 

A study of forestry or the training of a professional 
forester will include all the main aspects of forestry. These 
are — 

1. Political and economic. 

2. Technical. 

3. Business. 

-The political and economic side deals with the rela- 
tions that forests bear to the public. The amount of stand- 
ing timber and forest areas, the uses of timber and possi- 
bilities of using substitutes are studied. The actual rela- 
tions of forests to climate and water are investigated. The 
laws bearing on forests and forest protection, and the pol- 
icy of governments, must be understood. Without a firm 
grip on the essentials of forest policy, the forester is poorly 
prepared for this work, especially in a country such as ours, 
where so much remains to be done, the forester's chief duty 
may well be to secure proper laws and a progressive and 
stable forest policy before he undertakes much along the 
line of timber production. 

The technical side of forestry calls for the application 
of scientific and practical knowledge of the growth of trees, 
the knowledge of how to get results and avoid failures. A 
crop failure is a more serious matter when the growth of 



12 FORESTRY 

50 years may be destroyed or be of inferior quality, tban 
if but a single season's product is damaged. Beginning 
witb Forest Botany or Dendrology, in which he learns the 
distinguishing characters of tree species, the forester be- 
comes acquainted with the structure of the woods and with 
their different qualities and the uses to which they are best 
adapted. Then the factors of soil and climate must be un- 
derstood since trees, having a long life, show great varia- 
tions in their demands on soil, moisture, and heat, and pro- 
duce very different results in different situations. Silvics 
teaches us the different traits and peculiarities of the tree 
species, seed production and germination, the conditions 
under which the seed will grow, the demands of the seed- 
ling for light, the ability of the tree to win out in compe- 
tition with others, its form, its power of resistance to ene- 
mies and injuries, and the real value of the species for dif- 
ferent localities and conditions. Silviculture applies this 
knowledge in the form of definite plans and methods, by 
which the largest and most valuable crops of timber may 
be raised on any soil in the shortest possible time. Added 
to this, the forester must know the dangers which threaten 
his crop, and how to anticipate and avoid them. This ap- 
plies both to the mature timber and to the young seedlings. 
Fire, wind, and fungus or insect enemies threaten the grow- 
ing trees, just as storms, weeds, insects and fungi injure 
the farmer's crops. Finally he must know how to get his 
crop to market. The art of lumbering is a trade in itself, 
and considerable knowledge and skill is required to con- 
duct a logging operation with the least cost. But the for- 
ester must be able to modify old established customs of 
lumbering, to persuade or force lumbermen, contractors, 
and laborers to do unfamiliar things, such as burning brush 
or taking care not to destroy young trees. He must, there- 
fore, be enough of a lumberman so that his recommenda- 
tions will be practical and capable of being carried out. 
The subject of road building is of great importance, for the 

B— III— 10 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 13 

biggest problem of forestry is the transportation to mar- 
ket of the bulky and heavy products, and whether this be 
done by wagon, railroad or stream, on ice or on dry ground, 
the forester must understand his problem and be able to 
choose the cheapest method and lay out his roads so they 
will most efficiently perform their office. 

The third branch of knowledge demanded by foresters 
is the business side of forestry. No matter whether forests 
are managed by private parties or by the government, it 
means that large tracts of land are devoted to the produc- 
tion of timber crops, which must be cared for and sold. 
To carry out all the work required on such a tract demands 
orderly business methods, and a knowledge of costs and re- 
turns. If forests require such long periods of growth it 
is important that different stands be established not all 
of the same age, so that if possible, there may be timber 
ready to cut every year and a steady revenue be possible. 
"We must know something about the probable size and value 
of the timber and to get this knowledge we depend on For- 
est Mensuration. Mensuration is not in this case a study 
of abstruse mathematics. It is rather the intelligent appli- 
cation of a few simple methods to get at the facts, and it 
is much more important to understand natural laws of 
growth of trees and stands than to attempt to apply re- 
fined mathematical calculations to stands which refuse to 
grow in conformity with them. A higher branch of forest 
management discusses the best ways to bring a forest into 
the condition where it can be maintained permanently, pro- 
ducing a regular yield each year of wood. The organiza- 
tion of a force of men to do the work on a forest, or on 
larger areas of forests, such as might belong to a nation 
or state, calls for a knowledge of the amount of labor 
necessary for efficient results and the proper division of 
work and responsibility. In nearly all respects, forests are 
more economically cared for when the areas are fairly 
large and compact, than if split up into small tracts. 



14 FORESTRY 

IV. AMERICAN FORESTS. 

American forests are noted for their large number of 
valuable species. The forests of Europe, compared with 
ours, are monotonous. In northern Europe a single species 
of pine, Pinus Sylvestris, is the only representative of its 
genus, supplemented in the south by two others. In Amer- 
ica we have over thirty different species, and no large re- 
gion is without at least three. Other conifers are usually 
represented more numerously here than in Europe, espe- 
cially in the forests of the Pacific coast, where in addition 
to numerous firs and representatives of the cedar, yew, 
larch, spruce, incense cedars and cypress, we have two gen- 
era not found at all in the old world — the Douglas fir or 
Pseudotsuga taxifolia, and two species of big tree, the coast 
redwood and the big trees of the Sierras. The sugar pine, 
largest of the white pines, grows in the Sierras. The se- 
quoia, or big tree groves, have most unfortunately passed 
largely into private ownership, but through the generosity 
of one or two men some of the finest timber has been deeded 
to the national government and is secure from destruction. 
Even aside from these giant trees, which surpass in gran- 
deur any forests ever known, the size and value of the coast 
redwoods and of the Douglas fir stands in Washington and 
Oregon, are greater than any known forest in Europe or the 
tropics. 

Just as the west coast excels in conifers, so the eastern 
portion of the country is first in her array of valuable hard- 
woods. The Appalachian region is the central home of these 
hardwood species. Europe has two oaks of commercial 
value, America has nearer forty. Beech, for lack of any- 
thing better, is made much of abroad. Here we may grow 
ash, hickories, maple, birches, elm, basswood, yellow or tulip 
poplar, chestnut and a long list of other trees of greater or 
less importance each of them possessing some particularly 
valuable qualities, or else showing capacity for growth on 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 15 

situations ill-adapted to more valuable kinds. This pro- 
fusion of species is in a sense a drawback, for German for- 
esters with only two or three important trees to study, soon 
perfected their systems of cultivation and built up an or- 
derly scheme of management. We must adopt new plans 
for every species and every region and the knowledge 
gained in one locality will not necessarily apply elsewhere. 

V. SILVICS. 

The Forest versus the Single Tree. — A forest must 
be studied from two standpoints — first, the individual 
trees and their characteristics, and second, the attri- 
butes of the forest as a whole. Trees growing singly 
not only follow different laws of growth and devel- 
opment than when crowded together in a forest, but the 
effects of a forest upon the soil are not secured unless the 
trees cover practically the entire surface. An illustration 
of tree growth which does not properly constitute forest 
growth is found in orchards or in shade trees. Each tree 
is allowed full crown space and develops a symmetrical 
form with a short trunk, branching near the ground. 
No two species assume the same form, even when open 
grown. White oaks will send horizontal branches to 
great distances and grow^ into hemispherical shaped crowm. 
Hard maple takes an oblong or elliptical shape, while the 
white elm always develops the umbrella shaped crown 
which makes its presence so desirable as a shade tree over- 
hanging roadways and lanes. 

Such large and well-developed crowns mean a corre- 
spondingly large root system, which is secured by the ab- 
sence of competition with other trees. The size of the crown 
is an indication of the freedom of root growth. It often 
happens that old trees in city streets die as a result of inter- 
ference with the roots, through the laying of pavements 
impervious to water. Trees which are found in a thriving 
condition when growing entirely alone, have usually de- 



16 FORESTRY 

veloped from small sizes, under the same conditions, and 
have adjusted their root system to the moisture supply, 
and their boles and crowns to the exposure to wind and 
abundant light. The ground about such trees may be baked 
hard by the wind and sun, or covered with a dense sod, but 
the tree will resist these drying influences since it has al- 
ways had them to contend with, and its roots have spread 
out and struck deep, insuring abundant moisture. At the 
same time, the trunk at the base has swelled into a strong 
buttress, and the crown lies low on a tapering bole, so that 
the form and strength of the stem are ideal for resisting 
the sudden onslaught of a fierce wind. Competition with 
other trees is eliminated, and the tree easily masters the 
opposing forces of the elements. 

The Struggle for Moisture and Light and its Eifect on 
the Form of Trees. — But in the forest, single trees grow 
so closely together that there is a struggle between them 
for the necessities of life, light and moisture. Plant food 
is taken up by means of water, always in solution, and the 
amount of moisture present is of more importance in its 
effects on tree growth than the richness of the soil in chem- 
ical food supplies. This struggle for light and moisture 
gives the forest its distinctive form. Wherever there is 
sufficient soil moisture to support a full stand of trees, the 
competition is fiercest for light. But in many places the 
moisture is very scant, and then the struggle becomes whol- 
ly one of root competition for water. The form of a forest 
growing on dry soil is necessarily open. Trees are spaced 
at considerable intervals, and their crowns have room to 
develop. But investigations show that the stand is really 
as dense as the soil will support. Young seedlings which 
may spring up, die out in a few years, because they are 
unable to get moisture. The roots of the old trees, larger 
and more vigorous than the seedling, and penetrating deep- 
er, suck up all the water, and the seedlings perish of 
drought. Such stands are true forests, although they may 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 17 

resemble the orcliard form of the growth, since the struggle 
is taking place imderground, and the trees influence each 
other only through their roots. In extremely dry regions 
such scattered trees will have all the attributes of open- 
grown shade trees, including the buttressed and swelling 
roots, but since the supply of moisture is so small, the 
crowns will be correspondingly scant and open rather than 
full and dense. Such forests are common through the drier 
portions of the West. 

When the rainfall is sufficient and the soil retentive, as 
is largely the case through the eastern half of America, the 
struggle is transferred to the crowns, and becomes one for 
the possession of light. As many trees will grow on an acre 
as can secure light enough to live. In a forest stocked with 
the full number, the crowns touch and throw almost com- 
plete shade. The growth of the trees in height is stimu- 
lated, and their sidebranches are killed by the shade of 
their competitors. Those which grow fastest in height sur- 
vive. The form of such trees is strikingly different from 
the same species grown in open places. The first live 
branches are much farther up the bole, and in old trees, 
most of the lower branches have not only died and fallen 
off, but the scar has closed over completely, giving the 
trunk the appearance of having never possessed those lower 
branches. What crown there is, is confined to the top, where 
it gets the light from above, or, if one side or the other hap- 
pens to be exposed to the light, we find the crown abnormal- 
ly developed on this side. The bole is slender and holds 
its size well, approaching a cylinder in form and not taper- 
ing rapidly until the live crown is reached. The base does 
not show a large swelling, although some is always present. 
Such a tree, protected by its neighbors from the force of 
the wind and from excessive evaporation of soil moisture, 
has not developed the extremely resistant form of the open 
grown tree. If the stand is cut away, leaving it alone and 
exposed, several things may happen. If the species is 



18 FORESTRY 

shallow-rooted, it will probably blow over in the first big 
wind. If it is exacting in its demands for soil moisture, 
the roots will dry out and the tree will die. This often 
happens to species which habitually grow only under the 
shade of other trees. If it is a young tree with thin bark, 
the bark may sun-scald badly, causing wounds which give 
entrance to spores of fungi that will cause the tree to rot. 
But if the tree is naturally deep-rooted, fairly stocky, with 
thick bark, it will survive the change and will at once begin 
to strengthen its base against the unusual wind strain, at 
the same time enlarging its crown and roots. The growth 
will probably increase and the tree will begin to bear seed 
in great abundance. 

The forest form of the species is therefore not as well 
adapted to sudden changes as the open grown tree, but it 
is vastly more useful in the production of material. The 
taller and more cylindrical a tree is, the greater will be 
the per cent of its volume that can be used. The fewer 
branches it has and the sooner these fall off, the more valu- 
able will be the products. 

Left to themselves, trees will always form forests in 
regions with sufficient rainfall to support tree life. This 
fact, and the immensely greater production both in quan- 
tity and value of material when trees are grown in forests, 
makes it necessary to consider the forest stand as the real 
unit in forestry, instead of the single tree. 

The Early History of a Forest Stand. — The development 
of a stand of trees is best illustrated by taking the example 
of an area which has been seeded to a single species all 
about the same time. This occurs with certain pines, as 
for instance on an abandoned field. Such natural seeding 
is never uniform, but the seedlings occur in groups, and 
many small openings are left, while in other spots a dense 
mat of seedlings may spring up. But on the whole the 
stand may be fairly uniform and the trees within a few 
years of the same age. The open spots not occupied by 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 19 

seedlings may be filled with grass, weeds, or shrubs, and 
with these the seedling must compete both for moisture 
and light. 

As the seedlings grow in height, their crowns spread 
and interfere more and more, casting a shade which first 
kills out the grass and weeds and many of the bushy plants, 
and then begins to cause the death of the lower branches 
of the seedlings themselves. Almost at once, in the more 
crowded portions, the weaker seedlings or those which did 
not get so early a start as the others, begin to die out 
through the competition of their more vigorous neighbors. 
As the trees grow in height, more and more of them are 
killed in the struggle. This diminution in numbers is nat- 
ural and inevitable. There is not room for more than a 
very small per cent of the original stand, and the strong- 
est are best able to appropriate the growing space. A stand 
of seedlings fully stocked, may have from 5,000 to 20,000 
plants per acre. The same stand at maturity may not re- 
tain more than 100 trees. As long as the growth in height 
continues there will be a correspondingly rapid reduction 
in numbers. After the trees have attained their principal 
height growth, the numbers still diminish, but much more 
slowly. 

The Forest Floor and its Effect on the Soil.— As soon 
as a complete cover is formed by the crowns the soil is 
shaded and grass is killed out. This very much reduces the 
evaporation, since grass and weeds use a much larger 
amount of water from the surface soil than woody plants, 
a fact which gives them their strongest hold in competition 
with tree seedlings. The annual fall of leaves or needles 
begins to accumulate and soon forms a mat of litter which 
still further checks evaporation. Since the agencies which 
harden a soil are sun, wind and rain, while opposed to these 
frost and the growth of roots tend to make soil loose and 
mellow, we find soils protected by a forest cover and a leaf 
litter, becoming soft and capable of rapidly absorbing the 



20 FORESTRY 

water wMcli falls upon them. The hardening influences 
are overcome by the protection of the forest. This capac- 
ity to absorb water is increased by the fact that dead 
leaves, fallen branches and even the stumps of standing 
trees tend to obstruct the flow of water and give it a chance 
to soak into the soil. This increased absorption and water- 
holding capacity of the soil improves its condition and re- 
sults in a better growth of the trees. It is one of the chief 
ways in which the forest creates favorable conditions for 
its own existence. As the litter increases it begins to de- 
cay, and finally disintegrates into a dark material known as 
humus in which the structure of the original leaves and 
twigs is no longer noticeable. This humus has a high value 
both as a sponge to hold water, and for its chemical and 
physiological effects on the soil. The mineral food con- 
tained in the vegetation is made available for use again and 
the presence of humus promotes both the chemical disinte- 
gration of the soil by which new portions of plant food are 
released and the bacteriological activity which plays an 
important part in the activity of roots. 

The stand may be said to reach its maximum vigor 
about the time that the trees have attained nearly their 
full height. Height growth in some species continues slow- 
ly until death, in others it ceases almost altogether long 
before the tree has passed its prime. But in all species the 
greatest vigor in height growth comes in the first half or 
third of its existence. When about completed, the stand 
is composed of a much reduced number of trees, whose 
crowns are well developed and throw a dense shade. There 
is almost no underbrush and the litter on the forest floor 
has accumulated and decayed until it forms a heavy layer 
of humus partly blended with the soil below. 

The Differentiation of Crown Glasses. — During this 
early struggle, culminating with the completion of rapid 
height growth, the trees have not grown at the same rate 
in either height or diameter. A slight advantage at the 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 21 

start, either in age, or location, enables some trees to take 
the lead. This once obtained gives the tree a start over 
its slower and smaller rivals which it never loses until with 
increasing size and spread of crown it comes into competi- 
tion with trees of its own class, when the struggle begins 
again; and again the larger and thriftier tree is bound to 
win. Those overtopped in growth, first endeavor at all 
costs to maintain their height growth, but lose most of their 
side branches and become much reduced in size of crown 
with a total height only slightly less than the stronger trees. 
Later on, they lose more and more ground and the crowns 
of the neighboring trees begin to close above them. Soon 
afterwards these trees die from loss of light. Thus we find 
the trees in an even-aged stand classified by their crowns, 
which are a sure indication of the thrift and prospects of 
the tree. Those trees which overtop their neighbors in 
height and have a well-developed crown, are known as dom- 
inant trees. The crowded trees which still maintain their 
struggle for light by keeping up their height growth, are 
the intermediate class. The overtopped trees which are 
about to die are in the suppressed class. It almost never 
happens that an intermediate or suppressed tree becomes 
dominant in such a stand. This could occur only by the 
destruction of the dominant trees which are crowding it. 
Since the numbers constantly fall off, it is always the in- 
termediate and suppressed trees that disappear. Trees are 
continually dropping out of the dominant class into the 
classes below, as they fail to keep up their initial advan- 
tage. 

The Old Age of a Stand. — From the period when height 
growth ceases, the history of the stand is quite different. 
Trees continue to drop out, but most of those remaining 
are able to hold their own and may be regarded as victors 
in the struggle for existence. The trees as they grow older 
need more light, and the branches in the lower crowns die 
faster. The crown becomes thinner and when a tree dies 



22 FORESTRY 

or is destroyed the neighboring trees no longer spread out 
eagerly to close the gap as before. Sunlight gets in and fil- 
ters through to the ground, which begins to dry out. Shrubs 
and grass come in again and with them, groups and patch- 
es of young tree seedlings. If the old timber is not cut, it 
will disappear in time, either suddenly by being blown 
down, or gradually by loss from decay. The older the trees 
get, the less able they are to resist the attacks of fungi, 
and the structure of the trunk becomes finally so weakened 
by rot, both in the bole and in the stump and upper roots, 
that it falls or is blown down. It is in this decadent half 
of the life of the stand that the forest will reproduce itself 
naturally. 

These laws of development best illustrated in the case 
chosen, where stands are of a single species and even-aged, 
apply to almost all forms of forests, but are not always so 
evident. Under natural conditions, large clearings, on which 
stands of even age should spring up, occur only through 
fire, or extensive windfalls. If a stand of any species were 
left entirely undisturbed by such agencies, the old trees 
would drop out one by one or in small groups, and their 
places be taken by groups of either the same or different 
species. Finally the forest would be broken up into small 
groups of trees of different ages and sizes. The conditions 
are further modified by the large number of species which 
may be competing for space in the same stand. Yet the 
two laws, that of the reduction of numbers with growth 
in height and that of the survival of the most vigorous trees, 
will always apply, no matter what the conditions. 

Silvical Characteristics of Tree Species. — Both the 
form and the composition of a forest will depend, first, 
upon the quality of the site and its fitness for tree growth; 
secondly, upon the tree species in the region and their 
needs and, thirdly, upon the history of the forest in that 
locality, such as the occurrence of fires, insect ravages or 
other destructive incidents. 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 23 

Effect of Heat on Distribution of Trees. — The site or lo- 
cality determines the species of trees which can grow there. 
The climate has a profound effect upon the range of tree 
species. The total amount of heat in the growing season 
diminishes with increasing latitude and with elevation. 
The effect of increased altitude on the total heat is espe- 
cially noticeable and in mountain ranges is chiefly respon- 
sible for the distribution of trees in distinct zones, corre- 
sponding to the altitude. Species which grow well in a 
climate with a certain average and total heat, would per- 
ish in a warmer or colder climate. The northerly range 
of a species is limited by its ability to withstand frost and 
to ripen its wood in the growing season. Early fall frosts 
destroy the shoots of slow maturing species and extreme 
winter cold combined with evaporation and the deep freez- 
ing of the soil causes the death of species not acclimated 
to such conditions. The southern range of northern species 
is limited by excessive heat which stimulates the activities 
of the plant beyond its natural capacity, and causes rapid 
production of weak and coarse wood, and early decay and 
death. But the real factors which limit the range of a spe- 
cies are those which prevent its natural reproduction. 
Seedlings are always more sensitive to extremes of heat, 
cold and drought than mature trees. So it often happens 
that if trees are artificially planted and protected they 
may grow much farther north or south than their natural 
range. But even then they will not be as healthy and vig- 
orous as when they grow within the range to which they 
are acclimated. So ingrained are these characteristics of 
climatic requirements that it is not possible for a species 
to thrive much beyond its natural range, and the acclima- 
tization of a tree species involving a change in the heat 
requirements of the species, has never been successfully 
accomplished. Seeds or seedlings may be brought long dis- 
tances and thrive, as for instance natives of Japan such as 
the Ginkgo tree, which grows well on our eastern coast, 



24 FORESTRY 

and the white pine which is proving one of the best trees 
for planting in Germany. But in these cases the amount 
of heat is very similar in each locality and there is no real 
change m the demands of the species itself. 

The local range of a species is affected by heat, chiefly 
in a mountainous country not only through altitude, but by 
the difference in the exposure on slopes facing to different 
points of the compass. A south or southwest slope is much 
warmer than a north or northeast exposure. Toward the 
northern portion of its range, a species will favor south 
slopes and low altitudes while at the southern limit it will 
only be found on the north slopes and toward the tops of 
the mountains. 

Examples of such distribution are found in the pines of 
the United States. The white pine is normally limited to 
the Lake States, Pennsylvania and New England, but in the 
Appalachian range it extends southward into North Caro- 
lina where on the high summits of the great Smoky Moun- 
tains at 5,000 feet elevation it comprises over 50 per cent 
of the stand in some places. On the other hand even the 
most hardy of the southern yellow pines, the shortleaf, con- 
fines itself to the plains and foothills, and is never found 
further north than New Jersey, while the longleaf pine 
is found largely below Virginia, and its cousin, the Cuban 
pine, is only met with along the gulf coast. 

Soil Moisture and its Relation to the Life of Trees. — 
While heat fixes the general range of a tree, the demand 
for moisture in the soil has a far greater influence locally 
in determining which of several different species will sur- 
vive in a struggle. Water in the soil not only enables the 
tree to dissolve, with the aid of weak solutions of acids, 
the plant food it needs, and absorb it by osmosis into the 
root cells, from which it is slowly conducted upward until 
it finally reaches the leaves, but it is vitally necessary to 
the existence and functions of the leaves themselves. The 
constant supply of water makes good the loss by transpira- 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 25 

tion from the pores or stomata and evaporation through the 
cuticle. It enables the green and delicate tissues of the 
leaf to maintain their rigidity. The loss of too much water 
is shown by wilting, and if not supplied, the leaves would 
die. The elaboration of food from the carbon dioxide of 
the air by the aid of the chlorophyll bodies requires water, 
and the food or carbohydrates thus formed as starch is 
redissolved for transportation in solution to other portions 
of the tree where growth of wood occurs. Thus the water 
supply of the roots is of the first importance. There can 
be too much water in the soil. Roots need air as well as 
water, and cannot perform their functions properly in a 
soil constantly below the water level. 

The Characteristics of Soils Affecting Soil Moisture. — 
Swampy soils are not as favorable for trees as better 
drained soils. The most favorable sites are the well- 
drained loamy soils which will hold a large amount of water 
by capillary attraction, and are elevated far enough above 
the level of the underground water table so that the roots 
at the same time have plenty of air. The mechanical com- 
position of soils is important, since it determines very large- 
ly their behavior toward water. The larger the soil par- 
ticles the less water the soil will hold. The series used in 
such soil classifications is gravel, sand, loam, silt and clay. 
There is a disadvantage in a clay soil since the particles 
are so finely divided that the water is held tenaciously and 
the soil remains cold and wet, while if it does dry out it 
bakes hard and cracks. Loamy soils, with particles about 
midway in size between sand and clay, allow a free move- 
ment of water, retain it in sufficient quantities for tree 
growth and allow a proper circulation of air. 

The depth of the soil of course affects its moisture hold- 
ing capacity. A shallow soil over a rocky ledge is a dry 
soil since there is no storage room for water. But a very 
deep soil, if sandy, may be still drier, since the water rap- 
idl/- percolates through it to depths where even tree roots 



26 FORESTRY 

cannot follow it. Deep accumulations of silt, washed down 
from slopes into gullies or on flat benches, and supplied with 
underground seepage from above, make ideal conditions of 
soil moisture, since the storage room for water is large, the 
supply is continuous and the drainage prevents too great 
a surplus. Aside from the depth and consistency of the 
soil, and the amount of rainfall it receives, the water con- 
tent is determined by the topography and the drainage. If 
the water has no chance to run off or seep away under- 
ground, swamps are formed, in which the water stands con- 
stantly at or near the same level, filling all the pores and 
drowning the soil by exclusion of air. In other places un- 
derground water comes to the surface, making marshy 
spots, even on hillsides. The water in a swamp may not 
necessarily overflow the surface at all times, but the dis- 
tance down to the average water table will have a profound 
influence on the character of the swamp vegetation. 

The Effect of Soil Moisture on Competition of Species. 
— The difference in the requirements of tree species for 
moisture is very marked. Some distinctly prefer swampy 
soils, and have adapted themselves to them. The Bald 
Cypress of the south has pushed this adaptation so far that 
it develops special growths on its roots in the form of up- 
right conical excrescences known as knees, through which 
the roots receive the necessary air. The white cedar and 
tamarack of the Lake States are swamp trees. But most of 
these species are found to grow much more rapidly when 
they obtain a foothold on soil which is elevated above the 
level of the swamp. They have undoubtedly been forced 
to occupy these wet soils by their inability to cope with 
species better able to fight for room on well-drained soils. 
Having become inured to an excess of moisture they would 
probably suffer severely from drought if they should acci- 
dentally get started on soil not supplied with constant un- 
derground moisture. 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 27 

At the other extreme we find trees occupying soils so 
dry that many species are killed by drought and cannot 
grow in such places. On the dry, rocky ledges in eastern 
states the red cedar finds its natural habitat, while on the 
dry, deep sands of the Lake States the Jack pine has a clear 
field against all competitors. Other species like Norway 
pine and scarlet oak, come in on soils too dry for white pine 
which, in turn, needs less moisture than hard maple. Spe- 
cies which grow only in dry soils are almost never found 
in swamps. Norway pine, for instance, will not grow where 
water stands in the soil. They are affected by rot even 
when they grow in moist ground. It is evident, as in the 
case of the true swamp species, that they are so accus- 
tomed to their habitat that a permanent change in the 
water content does not agree with them. They can no more 
stand excessive moisture than swamp trees can stand dry 
conditions. But on the best sites, well-drained soils with 
a good supply of moisture, most of these hardy trees will 
do much better than on their usual site and grow faster 
and larger. 

The only reason that they are not found on better soils 
is that other species are stronger and crowd them off, leav- 
ing them the alternative of dying or taking the poorer sites. 

Strong species, then, are those that can capture the most 
desirable soils and secure for themselves the best and most 
uniform supply of soil moisture. These species are usually 
found to be hardwoods, such as the hard maple, chestnut, 
white oaks and hickories. 

The Struggle for Light as Affecting Competition of Spe- 
cies. — ^But in what does the strength of such species con- 
sist? 

The ability to capture soil moisture simply means that 
the tree from some quality or other, is able to grow faster 
than others — or survive its competitors. Where there is 
enough moisture for all, it is not moisture but other factors 



28 FORESTRY 

whicli decide the contest. Chief of these is the struggle 
for light. 

A species may secure its foothold and light in one of 
three ways. It may grow faster than others, in which case 
with an even start, it is sure to win for the time being. It 
may get along with less light than others. Or by reason 
of small windblown seeds, it may be able to distribute its 
seeds in accidental openings in advance of other species. 
All these methods have their advantages. The kind which 
relies on its ability to grow rapidly is not sure of surviv- 
ing beyond a single generation. The critical time comes 
in the reproduction and the establishment of seedlings. If 
the competing species, which needs less light, has come in 
under the shade of the original stand, or along with it, the 
seedlings of the first species will be unable to grow in this 
shade, while those of the other will easily survive. The old 
trees might die with no survivors, and the site will belong 
to the competitor. 

Tolerance. — This ability to grow with less light is 
known as tolerance. Just as in the case of moisture, it is 
not beneficial to be deprived of light, but the less of it a 
tree needs, the greater advantage it has in the struggle for 
existence. Trees needing a great deal of light are intol- 
erant. 

The tolerance or light requirements of different species 
are hereditary, and species may be classed according to 
their relative ability to endure shade. But it is not true 
that the same species always requires the same amount of 
light for vigorous growth. All other factors which in- 
crease the vigor of a tree tend to decrease the need of light. 
For this reason we find that young trees are more tolerant 
than old, the need for light steadily increasing as the tree 
grows older. The life vigor of a plant is largest when it 
is a seedling — ^it will do more on less food and less light 
than at any later time. This conforms to the general laws 
of life development of all animals and plants. The chance 

B— III— H 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 



29 



of survival of the seedling is increased by its tolerance, and 
later in life with increasing need of light, the increased 
size gives it the chance to secure this light. Tolerance is 
also increased by favorable sites. If a species is growing 
in a climate whose temperature is most favorable to it, 
the vigor of growth is at its maximum and it needs less 
light than it does when growing at the extreme limit of its 
range. The relative tolerance of two species, therefore, 
may not be the same in different regions, for a tree is al- 
ways more vigorous when near the center of its range. In 
spite of these differences, tolerance is so marked a charac- 
teristic of different species that the trees in any region may 
be roughly classified in order of their needs for light. 

A general list, given by Dr. B. E. Fernow, for northern 
trees, will illustrate such classification. The most intol- 
lerant trees, or those needing the most light are given first, 
and the trees grouped together are of nearly equal degrees 
of tolerance. 



Aspen 
Cottonwood 
Black Locust 
Honey Locust 

Pitch Pine 
Norway Pine 

^TuUp Poplar 
Elm 

Basswood 
White Birch 
Black Cherry 
Wahiut 
Chestnut 



"Soft Maple 
White Piae 
< Hickory 
White Oak 
Black Oak 



^ Sugar Maple 
Beech 
-l Balsam Fir 
Spruce 
Hemlock 



This is a fairly good list, since it does not attempt to 
state which of two similar species is the most tolerant. 



30 FORESTRY 

A very tolerant tree like the beech, hard maple, or 
spruce, will start as a seedling under heavy shade and 
grow slowly, in a state of suppression for many years 
under the old trees. Finally, the old timber falls or dies 
and the small tree takes on new vigor and grows as rap- 
idly as if it had never been held back in early youth. This 
capacity for survival and complete recovery from long pe- 
riods of shading and suppression give the tolerant trees 
their chief weapon of attack in the struggle for moist 
sites. 

Indications of Tolerance in the Form of Trees. — The 
demands of a tree for light are indicated by its form and 
crown. The best place to study tolerance is in crowded 
stands, where the struggle for light is most severe. Tol- 
erant trees may be recognized first, by their dense crowns, 
with many successive layers of leaves, most of which are 
partially shaded; secondly, by their presence under the 
shade of other trees and their survival in such situations. 
Intolerant trees will have leaves only on the outer por- 
tions of the crown, arranged so that each leaf gets plenty 
of light, and small trees will be entirely absent from shad- 
ed places. It follows, too, that the more intolerant a tree 
is, the shorter will be its length of crown compared with 
a more tolerant tree. 

The Formation of Forests of Tolerant Versus Intoler- 
ant Trees. — If a tree is not only tolerant but capable of 
living to a great age and attaining large sizes, it is well 
equipped to survive. In some sections, forests are almost 
never destroyed over large areas at once, either by fire 
or wind. Such a region is seen in portions of the Adiron- 
dacks. It is here that extremely tolerant trees like the 
hard maple, beech and spruce have taken absolute pos- 
session of the forest, forming a dense stand composed of 
trees of all ages and sizes. This is the final result of such 
a struggle when not interfered with by the elements of 
destruction. But to a much greater degree and over much 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 31 

■wider areas, our forests are either periodically burned 
up or blown down. This may not occur in the same place 
oftener than once every 100 years, but since the life of 
most trees is much longer than this, it gives many species 
a chance to perpetuate themselves indefinitely which would 
otherwise be crowded out by more tolerant trees. So 
widespread is this condition, that many of our most val- 
uable timber trees, especially the pines, are found over 
wide areas in stands which are practically even-aged, and 
must therefore have come up after such natural clear- 
ings. 

Two things, then, favor intolerant species: their ra- 
pidity of height growth, and their ability to distribute seed 
to great distances. Some tolerant trees can also distrib- 
ute their seed in the wind, as hemlock. But this tree 
grows very slowly in height. Take the case of white pine 
and hemlock forests. In a windfall, the seeds of the white 
pine and hemlock get a start, probably in company with 
aspen and white birch — if any seed trees of these species 
are near. The aspen and birch grow rapidly and the pine, 
which is somewhat tolerant, holds its own in the light 
shade cast by these species, or fills the openings in the 
stand. The hemlock seed is also scattered but on the 
bare soil these seedlings are apt to dry out and die, or 
fail to take root at all. But as soon as there is some shade 
cast, the moisture in the soil increases and hemlock seed- 
lings take root. Long before they reach any size, the 
poplars are almost mature, and the pine is thrifty and mak- 
ing rapid growth. At 80 years the aspen begins to die 
out. It has reached its old age and the pine is overtop- 
ping it. At 120 years the white birch follows the aspen, 
leaving the white pine in possession, with an understory 
of hemlock now attaining a fair size. These two species 
live together until they both reach old age. Should the 
pine be cut out, the hemlock will usually die from undue 
exposure to drought. If the forest is burned, the whole 



32 FORESTRY 

process is repeated. But should tlie soil be ricli, and noth- 
ing happen to the stand, the hemlock, and probably cer- 
tain species of hardwood, would eventually survive the 
pine, which could not come in as seedlings in their shade. 
There are other tolerant species which do not do as well 
as the hemlock in holding their own, but exist usually 
as a secondary tree under the crowns of more rapidly 
growing and less tolerant species. Such trees are the 
dogwood, and hornbeam, and in the Lake States, the bal- 
sam fir under white pine. 

Duration of Life of Trees. — Once established, a spe- 
cies whether tolerant or intolerant, has a great advantage 
if it is long lived. Short lived trees will die out of a 
stand, leaving the more enduring kinds in control. The 
duration of life of different species varies from 70 to 80 
years in the case of Jack pine and aspen, or even less, 
up to the almost miraculous ages attained by the sequoias, 
or big trees of California, which live to be over 2,000 years 
old. It is hard to explain these differences, but they are 
specific, and as much a part of the tree's characteristics 
as its growth and tolerance. With old age, a tree simply 
loses vitality. The power to heal up wounds in the bark 
is lost. The roots seem to lose their grasp of the soil 
in some species and are no longer able to resist the pres- 
sure of strong winds on the large and heavy body of the 
tree. Sometimes insect enemies in the form of bark beetles 
attack these old trees and kill them. But more often the 
spores of fungi enter through open knot holes or broken 
limbs, or upwards through the roots, and the body of the 
tree rots out until the strength is gone. Ultimately the 
tree is blown over. Old woodsmen have often observed 
the peculiar phenomenon of a tree tottering to its fall on a 
still day, with apparently no reason for causing the fall 
at that particular moment. The longest lived trees are 
apt to be rather slow in growth. White oak which reaches 
greater age than other oaks, does not compete with them 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 33 

in height growth, but by its tough wood and resistance 
to decay, it survives them. It is, therefore, more numer- 
ous in old virgin forests than in those which have been 
cut heavily and grown up to second growth since such 
a condition favors the more rapidly growing oaks which 
are shorter lived. 

Reproduction of Trees and Stands. The Seed. — The 
most important feature of the struggle of species, is the 
ability of the trees to reproduce themselves, and the con- 
ditions affecting reproduction determine the composition 
of a stand. Seeds are borne by some species every year 
abundantly. Such trees are always ready to seize an op- 
portunity if offered. Others only produce seed at inter- 
vals of two to seven years. Many conifers have this habit. 
Spruce seed trees are five to seven years apart. The seed 
borne in the intervening years is so small in quantity that 
it is usually all destroyed by birds, animals or insects. 
In seed years the abundance of the seed insures a sur- 
plus over the ordinary ravages of such pests, and a crop 
of seedlings, if conditions favor them. 

Distribution of Seed. — In the distribution of seed, the 
light wind blown seeds of the aspen will travel for miles. 
As each seed is supported by a thistle-down tuft of hairs, 
a few trees will seed up large areas. This is the chief ad- 
vantage which such a species possesses. All conifers have 
wind blown seeds, and the distance to which they will 
blow depends on the lightness of the seed, the size of the 
wing, and the position of the tree and strength of the wind. 
Spruce seeds will travel half a mile down hiU. But the 
heavy seed of the longleaf pine will only fly to a distance 
about equal to the height of the tree. Many hardwoods 
— as maples, elms and birches, have winged seeds, and can 
capture seed spots at varying distances from the parent 
tree. 

Of the trees which do not depend on the wind, some 
produce berries or fruit, which is eaten by animals and 



34 FORESTRY 

birds and may be carried long distances, escaping unin- 
jured by the digestive processes and ready to germinate. 
Red cedar berries will not germinate at all until submitted 
to such a process. The fire cherry of the Lake States, 
which springs up abundantly on old burns is literally plant- 
ed by robins and other birds. The nut trees do not have 
this advantage. Occasionally squirrels carry nuts into 
an opening and bury them. Almost always, these animals, 
in a good seed year, will plant large numbers of acorns 
and other nuts and never return for them. But the rapid 
reproduction of large spaces at any considerable distance 
from the old trees cannot be depended on in the case of nut 
bearing trees. 

The Extension of the Forest onto Abandoned Pastures. 
— The growth occurring on abandoned pastures in New 
England affords the basis for an interesting study. Grass 
usually forms a dense sod at first drying out the surface 
and preventing the geimination of tree seeds. The first 
species to get started are the red cedar, carried in by birds, 
and the grey birch, blown by the wind. Both trees need 
full sunlight and can spring up in dry places. It takes 
ten to forty years to form a thick stand of these trees. 
But the shade cast by them finally kills out the grass 
and the seeds of occasional oaks or chestnuts are carried 
in by the rodents, and grow rapidly, forming bushy crowns. 
These trees will then, after 50 or 60 years, begin to seed 
up the ground about them. Dogwood, black cherry and 
others sometimes get started. But it is all a matter of 
accident, how long it takes for the stand to work back 
to its natural form, in which the forest is composed, not 
of weak slow growing, intolerant species like cedar, but 
of the strong species which originally held possession. The 
great extension of the cedar over such old pastures shows 
how quickly a species takes advantage of opportunities 
afforded by clearings either natural or artificial, when it 
relies more on seed distribution than on either growth 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 35 

or tolerance. Such species are forever on the move. As- 
pen almost never succeeds itself, unless the old stand of 
aspen is burned off. In the spruce regions, much of the 
spruce on mountain slopes gets started under aspen and 
birch which are the first trees to spring up on burns, and 
this birch and aspen grows old and dies, leaving the young 
spruce, almost as old as they are, to live for 200 years 
longer. But in the meantime another burn or blow down 
has occurred within a mile or two, and is at once seeded 
up to aspen from the first stand. 

The Seed Bed and the Seedling. — Many times we find 
seed trees and seed, but very few seedlings. There is 
always a reason for this to be found in the condition of 
the seed bed. The seed will not germinate without mois- 
ture, and it must be able to take root. Very dry soils, 
exposed to the sun, prevent the starting of tender seed- 
lings like hemlock. Hard-baked soils make it impossible 
for the root to penetrate, and we find acorns with a long 
radicle, rolling about on the surface, and soon drying up, 
while amongst leaf litter they find easy access to the soil. 
But pine seeds cannot grow at all on leaf litter, and very 
seldom in grass, which holds the seed up off the soil and 
dries it out. So it is an accepted fact that for most pines 
we must burn the ground in order to get good reproduc- 
tion of seedlings. Some such considerations always ex- 
plain the lack of seedlings if seed is present. But the mere 
starting of seedlings does not insure their survival. Here 
is where the needs of the species for light come into play. 
Many more seedlings die for lack of light under old trees, 
than survive. A seedling will live a year or two in shade, 
but if this shade continues, it will succumb. Trees be- 
gin to bear seed at ages varying from 6 to 7 years in the 
case of Jack pine to 50 and 60 years and the seed is al- 
ways borne most abundantly by the trees with the great- 
est opportunity of distributing it to good advantage — the 
open grown trees or those on the edges of stands, or over- 



36 FOEESTRY 

topping the stand. In this way, the species extends its 
territory. 

But the seed which falls under the old trees, while 
it may germinate and form seedlings, usually requires 
more light to grow than it receives. A full stand of any 
species throws too dense a shade for its own seedlings, 
although the seedlings of a more tolerant species may grow 
there without difficulty. So that with most intolerant 
trees, the forest cannot renew itself on the same ground, 
until it begins to go to pieces from old age, and we will 
get a succession of crops of trees of an even-aged form. 

Reproduction by Sprouts. — The production of seed is 
not the only way in which a tree can renew itself. All 
hardwood species, if cut or burned, can sprout again and 
these sprouts will form trees almost as tall and large as 
the original trees. The conifers, as pine, spruce, etc., can- 
not do this, and with them a fire or a cutting destroys 
the trees, and, if seedlings are not already growing and 
survive, it puts an end to the forest for the time being. 
But with the sprouting hardwoods, it takes a succession 
of fires to completely destroy the trees. Some hardwoods 
sprout vigorously and to a great age, as the chestnut. But 
most of them lose the power of sprouting when they reach 
middle age, from 70 to 120 years old, and all trees sprout 
best when young. Of the few conifers which sprout, the 
pitch pine of the Atlantic coast produces the longest lived 
sprouts, while certain western forms of juniper are known 
to survive fires by sprouting. 

Sprouts appear in greatest numbers from the base of 
the stump next the ground, or root collar. If trees are 
cut in summer, after most of the growth for the year is 
formed, they may not sprout at all, since at this period 
all of the reserve food of the tree has been used up in 
forming new growth, and there is nothing upon which the 
roots can draw to put forth the new sprouts. But at any 
time after the tree has had time to renew this reserve, it is 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 37 

safe to cut it for sprouts. The best season is from late 
fall till before the growth starts in the spring. The stumps 
should be cut low, with slanting surfaces, to prevent rapid 
decay. A great many sprouts start, their number being 
an indication of the vigor of the tree. In a few years these 
are reduced by natural competition to 8 or 10, and only 
two or three will mature as a rule. 

Forest Types. — To sum up, the composition of a forest 
is determined by the conditions of heat, exposure, soil and 
moisture; by the hereditary qualities of tree species which 
enable them to compete for these sites, and by the de- 
structive forces of nature and man combined, which modify 
natural conditions. The accidental combinations of these 
three elements give rise to the infinite variety which we 
find in our woods. But as a rule in any given region, 
the same set of conditions will produce the same kind of 
forest. There wUl be certain characteristic associations 
of species, which are able to grow together, or compete 
with each other. These associations are known as forest 
types, and are sometimes divided into permanent types 
and temporary types. Permanent types are found in re^ 
gions where the forest is never destroyed violently by 
fire, wind, insects, or lumbering, and where, during many 
centuries, the struggle has gone on until only the most 
enduring species, usually very tolerant, have survived. 
The Adirondack hardwoods, of beech, hard maple, and scat- 
tered spruce, are the best illustration. The forest floor is 
covered with an accumulation of litter and humus some- 
times two feet deep, showing entire absence of fires, and 
these trees seldom blow over except singly here and there. 
Starting with such a type we might construct a series, in 
which accidental destruction played a stronger and strong- 
er role — until we come to types which are of such purely 
temporary character that they are sure to be succeeded by 
other species. Following the so-called permanent types, 
come the types formed by most of the hardwoods, such as 



38 FORESTRY 

oaks and other nut trees. These trees form types which 
are more or less subject to injuries, and may vary from 
century to century in composition, but still will maintain 
their general character. The great hardwood forests of 
the Appalachians and the original hardwoods in south- 
ern New England belonged to this class. Upon the best 
soils, with perfect drainage and plenty of moisture, we 
might find a type marked by white oak, beech, hickories 
and chestnut. On soils a little more moist, and sometimes 
too wet, these species would be handicapped, and weaker 
kinds not able to compete in growth or tolerance, but 
capable of surviving a slight excess of moisture would 
form a type differing very decidedly in composition from 
the first. White ash, white elm, sour gum, red maple and 
others would form such a type, 

Next in the scale of permanence would come types 
found in rather dry soils. Such soils are either shallow 
or loose and sandy, and in either case they are exposed 
to both wind and fire to a much greater extent than bet- 
ter soils. Consequently, fires and blow downs occur as 
a regular feature. The species best adapted to such sites 
are the pines, and we : nd all sandy soils occupied by some 
species of pine, if the; are not too dry to prevent the 
growth of pine altogether, as in deserts. 

Very often small oaks come in under such species as 
white pine and, owing to their inability to sprout, the pines 
may fail to renew themselves when cut or burned. This 
leaves the oaks, which grow into a scrubby forest, and 
the type has changed. So apt i^^ this to ha^jpen that it is 
a common belief that pine will not succeed itself. Yet it 
is one of the first principles of forestry that the trees 
which will thrive best in any locality are those which have 
grown best on that site in the past. Under natural condi- 
tions, if fires are not too severe or widespread and pine 
seed trees survive, pine will come in again after fire or 
windfall, as at first, and the type remains the same. It 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 39 

is a temporary type only because reproduction occurs at 
irregular intervals depending on accidental conditions, and 
this reproduction may not be of the original species. 

The types which are most truly temporary are those 
formed by short lived species with seeds wind blown or 
carried by birds, and which cannot hold their own if any 
other species can reach the same area with seeds. For 
this reason cedar in old pastures or aspen stands on burned 
lands are true temporary types. 

Types are of the greatest use to the forester. They in- 
dicate the quality of the soil and the kind of wood materials 
which it will produce, and determine the species of trees 
which he should try to raise in the future. It is useless 
to attempt to grow trees on any soil which is not suited 
to the demands of that species, and there are always kinds 
which are adapted to it, and will make as good growth 
as the site permits. No greater fallacy exists than that 
any tree found in a region can be successfully grown for 
wood products on any site in the region. Mistakes can 
be made which will not become evident for many years, 
and the only sure guide for the forester in planting or man- 
agement of forests is the evidence constantly before his 
eyes of the natural types, representing the survival of 
the fittest. From such types he can gain the knowledge 
necessary to decide what trees to plant on vacant land, 
or to recognize a purely temporary type, and know wheth- 
er a better species might not grow there if given a chance. 
For instance, white pine would ordinarily grow well in 
old pastures, if planted there, when for lack of seed trees, 
it might not be present at all under natural condi- 
tions. 

The Basis for Distinguishing Types. — Types, being the 
result of a number of influences, are not usually bounded 
by sharp lines, except where artificially produced as in 
clearing. They grade into one another and their bounda- 
ries are somewhat arbitrary. Nor is the composition of a 



40 FORESTRY 

type constant especially when several species grow in mix- 
ture. In some parts, one species will predominate, while 
a different one will be in the majority in an adjoining area. 
Out of a constantly changing forest, types are chosen by 
deciding upon the general features of sufficient importance 
to justify a division of the whole forest to conform with 
the differences noted. Minor differences are neglected. 
The basis for such divisions, or types, are usually broad 
topographic features such as bottom land, swamp land, 
south slopes, ridge tops, and the types so determined are 
named from the topography. Where the type depends 
less on topography, and more on accidental distribution 
of species, it is named from the prevailing species or mix- 
ture, as white pine type. Jack pine type, poplar type. Dif- 
ferences in age do not form a basis for making different 
types. A spruce slope type is the same type whether the 
trees are seedlings or veterans. But if the old stand is 
destroyed and is followed by a different species, the type 
is changed. Thus types are recognized solely on the basis 
of the dominant trees, which make up the bulk of the stand 
and will produce the crop of wood. 

Forest Enemies. — The worst danger to a forest is from 
fire. There is no region in this country free from fires, 
and so profound is the influence of fire on the forest, that 
the forester is forced to consider this danger before every- 
thing else. The leaves and needles shed by trees form an 
inflammable litter, which in dry times burns readily. Some 
forests grow on such wet land that they seldom burn over. 
If a swamp becomes so dry that fire runs through it every 
tree is killed. Forests on rich soils throw a heavy shade, 
and this with the resultant damp condition of the litter 
prevents fire except in bad droughts. But on the drier 
soils less shade is cast, and there is a long season each 
year when the slightest spark will start a blaze. Sandy 
pine lands in the South are burned over every year, and if 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 41 

by chance the fires do not run for several seasons, the ac- 
cumulated debris may cause such a hot fire that a great 
deal of damage is done. 

Resistance of Trees to Fire. — The amount of damage 
done to the trees by a fire varies from total destruction 
down to almost nothing. This depends first, on the nature 
of the fire, and second, on the resistance of the tree. The 
living tissue of the tree is its cambium, between the bark 
and the wood. If this is heated beyond a certain point 
it is killed. If the cambium around the entire base of the 
tree is killed, the tree is girdled and dies. The cambium 
of one tree is probably just as sensitive as that of another, 
but these cells are protected by the bark and it is here 
that differences exist. Bark is composed of corky sub- 
stance which is a non-conductor of heat. The more bark 
there is and the more corky its consistency, the better 
wiU be its protection against fire. Seedlings of all species 
are very sensitive to fire, and the slightest ground fire wiU 
kill most yearling plants. But in two or three years, they 
begin to develop thicker bark, and some of them may sur- 
vive a light fire. The seedlings of the southern longleaf 
pine develop thick bark and at the same time the needles 
of the crown turn down around the stem, affording addi- 
tional protection, so that it is no uncommon sight to see 
these seedlings starting to grow after fires which scorched 
off every vestige of foliage. But with most pines, fires 
occurring every two or three years will absolutely pre- 
vent young seedlings from getting started. Such condi- 
tions are found on nearly the whole of the cut-over pine 
lands of the Lake States. The old forest has been cut, and 
fires, by preventing the growth of the new crop, have pro- 
duced a treeless waste. Many of these stump wastes have 
been cut for 40 or 50 years, in which time a second crop 
of pine would have reached merchantable size. Yet today 
there is nothing and 100 years from now there will still 



42 FORESTRY 

be nothing if the fires continue to burn. Upon such soils, 
a considerable quantity of grass and weeds springs up, 
which forms food for such periodic fires. 

Hardwood seedlings are just as sensitive, on the whole, 
as conifers but they possess, almost from the start, the ca- 
pacity for sprouting, so will come up after a fire. The 
older a tree gets, the more severe must a fire be to kill it, 
so that in regions of frequent surface fires, the mature tim- 
ber stands from year to year apparently uninjured. This 
apparent freedom from injury may in some cases be actual. 
The bark is so thick and the fires so light that the tree 
continues sound. Even in such a case, all the natural cov- 
ering which preserves the moisture of the forest floor is 
burned up and it is probable that growth is interfered with 
by the excessive exposure of the soil. But once let the bark 
be burned through anywhere and the succeeding fires 
each eat out a little larger hole until the tree may bum 
completely off. Some pines, as the Norway pine of the 
Lake States, and the Longleaf pine, show this capacity 
for fire resistance in the face of repeated small fires. With 
many trees, both pines and hardwoods, the fire may kill 
the cambium on only one side. This is usually the side 
opposite to the direction from which the fire is coming. 
The fire forms an eddy and licks the face of the tree — 
burning a strip of bark sometimes 6 to 10 feet high. If 
young, a tree may heal such a wound completely, so that 
it cannot be noticed until the tree is felled, when the old 
scar will be seen, with the annual layers of wood formed 
since the fire each closing in across the gap until it is finally 
bridged. The younger the tree, if not killed outright, the 
greater is its chance of recovery, provided a second fire 
does not keep the wound open. But this is not the end 
of the damage. The spores of fungi often find lodgement 
in such fire-scars, and develop rot in the heart of the tree, 
so that the damage done from this source may in a few 
years exceed that caused by the fire itself. 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 43 

The Nature of Forest Fires and Their Effect on Forests. 
• — ^Fires severe enough to cause the death of large tim- 
ber only occur in prolonged dry spells, and on windy days. 
In regions commonly free from fire, where the vegeta- 
ble accumulation is deep, fires at such seasons burn in 
the ground itself, and, killing the roots, destroy the larg- 
est trees. Complete protection is the only safeguard for 
such timber. In pine regions a strong wind sometimes 
causes a fire to burn up into the crowns of the trees and 
to travel through the crowns. Such fires are rare excep- 
tions, but since they only occur in severe droughts, they do 
tremendous damage. The great forest fires of history have 
been of this nature. That at Hinckley, Minnesota, in 1894, 
caused the death of over 400 persons. The wind carried 
fire brands over lakes to distances of over half a mile. 
Not a single pine survived over great areas. Traces of 
similar fires may be found elsewhere in Minnesota. One, 
the Ely fire, burned a distance of 40 miles and 
laid waste from 12 to 15 townships of land, which 
is now after a lapse of nearly 40 years, covered only 
with poplar, birch and some Jack pine, the original white 
and Norway pine timber surviving only on one or two is- 
lands in the center of large lakes. 

Fires in hardwood regions are less severe, since crowns 
of hardwoods are not inflammable. Hardwood ridges 
act as checks to bad fires in pine woods. But many spe- 
cies of hardwoods are badly injured by fires, since the 
bark is thin. So it frequently happens that a severe sur- 
face fire will kill an entire stand of such species as chest- 
nuts. Stands of pole size, if killed, sprout readily, but 
the fire-killed poles decay and fall over, creating a dan- 
gerous fire trap. The second fire is almost sure to occur, 
again killing the young sprouts. The stumps sprout a 
second time but there is no limit to the number of fires 
that may occur, while the capacity of the stumps for re- 
covery is soon exceeded — and after each fire less stumps 



44 FORESTRY 

recover, i^ally scrubby and worthless shrubs like bear 
oak — whicli can sprout annually for indefinite periods- 
take the place of the chestnut and valuable oaks, and the 
area can be classed as non-productive. Large districts of 
this character can be found in parts of Pennsylvania. 

Perhaps the most common source of fires is the burn- 
ing of the tops left after lumbering. Both in pines and 
hardwoods, when logging is very heavy, the inflammable 
nature and great quantity of the debris created, coupled 
with the increased exposure of the soil to the sun and 
wind, causes a very hot fire. This fire is almost sure to 
kill chance seed trees left because of some defect, and 
to wipe out all traces of seedling and sapling growth. A 
condition is created which is favorable to future fires, and 
the causes for these are not far to seek, in a region where 
no e:ffort is made to suppress them, and the resultant dam- 
age is not appreciated. Forest fires are said by good 
authority to have destroyed as much timber as the lum- 
bermen have cut. But a far greater loss than this is rep- 
resented in the seedlings burned, and the absolute pre- 
vention of future growth over almost all of our pine forest 
area. 

Other Forest Enemies. — Of the other natural enemies 
which threaten the forest, none are of such a nature that 
they form a serious and universal menace. Occasional 
fungus diseases occur, such as the chestnut blight, which 
at present threatens this tree in the southern New Eng- 
land region. The trees attacked are killed by the girdling 
of the cambium through the operation of the fungus. Dry 
seasons probably give rise to such epidemics by weaken- 
ing the naturally resistant trees, and such a condition will 
correct itself. Of the fungi which attack the heartwood, 
there are several kinds but all of these operate only upon 
trees which have some injury in the bark. Danger of pre- 
mature decay from this source may be reduced in a well- 
managed forest by removing the fruiting bodies of such 

B— III— 12 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 45 

fungi, when they appear on infested trees, or by cutting 
out the trees. Insects are sometimes fatal to trees. They 
work either by defoliation, or by boring in the bark or 
wood of the tree. The defoliating insects are occasionally 
serious, since a tree cannot live without leaves. The ma- 
ture tamarack throughout the East was practically all 
killed by a sawfly within the last twenty years. The im- 
ported gypsy moth and the brown tail moth may, if not 
controlled, kill most of the trees in regions which they 
infest, and the state of Massachusetts has for years em- 
ployed an army of men to combat them, not altogether 
successfully. Ordinarily, insects are kept in check by 
their natural enemies, which are insect parasites and birds. 
But the parasites of imported insects are not always im- 
ported with them. 

Bark beetles often do great damage to standing tim- 
ber, killing all the trees over wide areas. These beetles 
are ordinarily found only in weakened trees. But when 
in great numbers, they attack healthy trees, choosing the 
larger and older rather than the small trees, since the 
former are really not so vigorous. The most disastrous 
attack of beetles of recent years was the recent visita- 
tion in the Black Hills of South Dakota, where over 200 
million feet of pine were destroyed. As in other instan- 
ces, the beetles suddenly disappeared, killed probably by 
a fungus disease. But such plagues can always be con- 
trolled if taken in time, by cutting the infested trees and 
burning the tops, the logs being either removed or put 
in a stream. and the beetles drowned. When only a few 
beetles exist, woodpeckers and other enemies keep them 
within their natural limits. 



46 FORESTRY 

VI. SILVICULTURE. 

The Relation Between Silvicultural Operations and the 
Value of Wood Products. 

Silviculture is the art of gromng tree crops. In this 
country it requires a working knowledge of our native 
species, and an ability to recognize conditions, both in the 
woods and in the markets. One can hardly consider the 
production of timber without taking the cost into account. 
The lumberman holds standing timber either because he 
has more than he can cut at present, or to profit from 
an increase in the value of the stumpage. It is his inten- 
tion to convert the investment into cash by the cutting 
of the timber and sale of the land for farms if possible. 
The production of timber means a definite intention to 
profit by growth. Whatever gain comes from the in- 
crease of stumpage value is merely .n additional incen- 
tive. The ideal of the forester *s to produce the largest 
crops of the most valuable material in the shortest pos- 
sible time, and at the least possible expense. Since for- 
est crops are not obtained for many years after they are 
planted or started from seed, the only way to calculate 
returns on investments is by neans o2 compound inter- 
est. The longer the period, '"'^e aore rapidly this accu- 
mulates. For this reason all expenses connected with the 
production of forests must be kept as low as possible if 
one is to receive a reasonable return on his investment. 
But ideal methods of forest production call for a great 
deal of work in the forest during the growing of the crop. 
To produce the largest crops of the most valuable mate- 
rials, each tree should have room to develop, yet be crowd- 
ed sufficiently to enable it to clear itself of its lower limbs. 
In European countries this result is olbtained by first se- 
curing a dense stand of seedlings and then making fre- 
quent thinnings, in which small material is taken out 
allowing the remaining tree;: to grow freely. But no- 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 47 

where is such work done when it does not pay to do it. 
The cheapness of labor and scarcity of wood in continen- 
tal countries enable foresters to actually sell brush and 
twigs for enough to cover the cost of removal. Every 
stick of material produced has its value — and thinnings 
instead of being an expense, are a source of actual in- 
come. In our country there are wide areas where it does 
not even pay to sell cordwood, since the cost of cutting 
and transportation more than equals the price received 
for it. In a few localities near large cities, small material 
can be sold for various uses, chiefly fuel, but over the 
greater part of our forest domain a tree must not only 
be of a valuable species, but must reach a size where it 
is fit for lumber, railroad ties or other important com- 
mercial use, before it can be cut at a profit. To cut out 
material which is not salable, would be to incur a large 
expense for which the fin^l yield might not give an ade- 
quate return. This necessity, which is universal, of lim- 
iting the expense of their operations in conformity with 
the market, makes it very difficult for American foresters 
to do many things that they would like to do otherwise, 
but true forestry is to make the best and most profitable 
investment in the forest and not to sink money in fancy 
operations, w^hich will never be returned. This necessi- 
tates more extensive operations. Instead of managing a 
few acres with the greatest care, the American forester 
is forced to care for many thousands of acres as well as 
he can with a small annual expense, and depend very 
largely on nature to produce the crops of trees. 

Planting. 

Artificial planting is therefore not as widely applica- 
ble in the United States as in Europe. But it is one of 
the surest ways of securing the largest and best crop 
from an acre of land, and in the East and on farmland 
is being quite extensively practiced. It is a safe quick 



48 FORESTRY 

way of reforesting a tract devoid of trees. The better 
the soil, the simpler the operation. Mistakes are made 
in choice of species and in methods of planting, chiefly 
in going to too great an initial expense. Plant material 
for forest planting if obtained from nurserymen, is some- 
times held at prices more suitable for ornamental plant- 
ing. Plants are bought which are too large for the needs 
of the planter. White pine if planted should not be over 
three years old, at which age, if transplanted once, it is 
not over 6 or 8 inches high at most, and should cost not 
more than $5.00 or $6.00 per thousand. In planting, the 
spacing is quite important, as it determines the number 
of plants per acre, upon which hinges the cost. Closer 
planting than 6 by 6 feet is now universally condemned 
in this country. It requires too many plants and the stand 
grows up so dense that at an early age the growth is 
checked by crowding. It does not pay to thin the stand 
for such small material hence there is a decided loss in- 
stead of a gain from the crowding in spite of double the 
initial planting expense. Spacing as wide as 8 by 8 feet is 
sometimes urged, and should succeed if care is taken to 
secure a full stand, and the soil is not too dry. If the 
roots of conifers are allowed to become dry at any time 
during transplanting, the seedlings will be killed. But 
after planting they should not be watered as this will 
cause their death. Needless to say, the watering of large 
plantations would be an impossibility in any case. The 
operation of planting does not require much labor — a hole 
is made by the insertion of a spade, or with a mattock, 
big enough to receive the roots, and the earth is firmed 
about them with the foot. Two men can plant 1,000 trees 
a day in sandy soil, and the cost depends on the price of 
labor. To produce the seedlings, special care is required. 
They are raised in seed beds, and protected by lath screens 
during the first season, and by a slight mulch over win- 
ter. The best plan is to sow broadcast in the seed bed, 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 49 

since a full stocking of plants may be secured that will 
crowd out weeds. But where seedlings can be had at rea- 
sonable figures it is best to purchase them. Upon farm 
lands, there is considerable interest in the planting of 
trees to produce fence posts. Where such small materi- 
als are desired, the trees could be set a little closer than 
6 feet, since thinnings can be made for fuel and posts are 
useful at small sizes. Some species, as hardy catalpa, 
have been advocated for universal planting, when experi- 
ence shows that they succeed only in a narrow range. 
Catalpa thrives only on the best of soils, and on sandy 
land, or dry soils, does not grow as well as other species. 
Many experiment stations are testing the growth of na- 
tive species, and numerous bulletins may be had from 
the U. S. Forest Service on trees suitable for planting 
in different localities, so that there is very little excuse 
for committing serious blunders. 

But planting affects the larger problems of the man- 
agement of forest tracts only in a very small way. Most 
lands that will be devoted to forests are already forest 
lands, wholly or in part covered with trees, or else burned 
and cut over. If there are seed trees of any description 
near enough to seed up the burned or logged areas, some 
kind of tree growth will come up. It may not be very 
valuable now, but there is a possibility of its becoming 
so with rising values for wood of all kinds. In case of 
large burns, following logging, where practically no seed 
trees remain, planting would be the most sensible means 
of restocking, provided the funds can be obtained for the 
purpose. 

Cutting the Old Timber to Secure Reproduction. 

A second general plan to secure a new crop of seed- 
lings can be applied if the land is put under management 
before the old timber is removed. This timber is produc- 
ing seed, and can be cut in such a way that the seed will 



50 FORESTRY 

be distributed and the seedlings have a chance to become 
established before the last of the old trees are gone. There 
are many modifications of this plan in use in Europe, 
but all have the common feature of leaving part of the 
merchantable timber standing after the first cut, to be 
removed later on. This, to the American operator, means 
increased expense. 

Silvicultural Systems. 

Strip and Group Systems. — One plan, known as the 
strip system, is to cut strips through the forest, whose 
width does not exceed the distance to which seeds will be 
blown from the adjoining strips which are not cut. This 
plan has been used in Montana in lodgepole pine with some 
success, in a region where it was possible to sell all the 
small material removed by clear cutting. A modification 
of this system of clear cutting is to cut in groups or 
patches leaving the surrounding timber for seed and pro- 
tection. Species which are shallow rooted and require 
considerable protection from drought as well as wind are 
reproduced best by this plan, which is being practiced 
in the mountains of Colorado on the Engelman spruce. 

Clear Cutting with Seed Trees. — A still further ap- 
proach to clear cutting is the removal of almost the en- 
tire stand, leaving seed trees to secure the second crop 
of seedlings. On the Minnesota National Forest it was 
specified by law that 5 per cent of the merchantable tim- 
ber should be allowed to remain as seed trees. The spe- 
cies were white and Norway pine, both of which come 
up best in clearings. The important point in this method 
is the selection of seed trees. In ordinary logging, if any 
trees are left it will be the defective or rotten trees which 
the lumberman does not see a profit in handling. Such 
trees will produce seed, and the seedlings will be vigor- 
ous. Even if the seed trees are crooked or stunted it does 
not necessarily mean that the seed produced will have 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 51 

inherited these imdesirable qualities. The seedlings will 
be very certain to produce trees which have the general 
characteristics of the old stand, and not of the single tree. 
Only in case all or most of the trees in a vicinity are stunted, 
crooked or otherwise defective, will the seedlings of 
any one tree inherit these qualities since in such a case 
it is evidently the general conditions which have produced 
these qualities. 

The real objection to leaving rotten seed trees pur- 
posely is that they can never be utilized and are a dead 
loss. With increased value of wood, there are very few 
trees that it will not pay to cut and use at least in part. 
But by the time a second cutting comes around, such trees 
will have blown down from weakness, due to rot and old 
age. The best plan is to select sound, young, thrifty trees 
which are old enough to produce plenty of seed. These 
trees will increase greatly in size, remain soimd, and form 
a valuable part of the next cut. The chief danger in 
using this method is from windfall. Trees suddenly ex- 
posed on all sides to the wind are apt to blow down be- 
fore they have time to adjust their roots and stump to 
the new strain. The older the tree is the greater the dan- 
ger. In selecting trees it is possible to choose trees which 
are as exposed as possible, since such trees have already 
become adjusted to wind strain. The species which lend 
themselves most readily to this method are strong rooted 
trees, which ordinarily grow in somewhat open stands, 
as the western yellow pine or the southern yellow pines. 
Shallow rooted trees like spruce would be almost sure to 
blow down, and even white pine in the mountains of 
Montana, on shallow soil, was found to be imable to stand 
when left singly. 

Selection System. — The opposite extreme to clear- 
cutting for reproduction is found in what is known as 
the selection system. Under this plan, only the oldest 
and largest trees of a forest are removed, leaving most 



52 FORESTRY 

of the stand intact. Cuttings would be made at frequent 
intervals on the same ground, but there would always 
be a forest cover. Such a plan is suitable for very crude 
operations in forests composed of many species, of which 
only a few are merchantable. The selection of valuable 
hardwoods such as cherry or walnut, or of large white 
oaks for stave material, bears a resemblance to this sys- 
tem of cutting. But such a method in a mixed forest 
soon exterminates the best kinds of timber, leaving only 
the poorer varieties. It is not possible to do anything 
else when markets are so poor that only the best quality 
and kinds of wood can be sold at all. Hence it has been 
the prevailing system of logging over most of the hard- 
wood forests in inaccessible or pioneer localities. As mar- 
kets improved, a greater number of species became mer- 
chantable, and much smaller sized trees could be cut. 
Logging operations then began to take on the form of 
a clear cutting but without any regard for future crops 
or the protection of young trees. 

A systematic application of the selection system by 
foresters differs very widely from the hit or miss selec- 
tion by woodsmen. The forester chooses this method 
only when the species is one that succeeds best when the 
young trees spring up under almost complete shade and 
protection of the old timber. The European silver fir 
is sometimes managed in this way. At intervals of a very 
few years the whole forest is cut over, a small portion 
being cut each year, but the only trees taken are the old- 
est and largest. Before the next cut, a few more trees 
have reached the proper size. There is in such a forest, 
only one or two species, and every age and size is repre- 
sented on each acre, so that the form of the forest stand 
is the extreme opposite of an even-aged stand, where the 
crowns of the trees form a canopy of about the same 
height. When the forester attempts to apply the selec- 
tion system to forests which are irregular in the distri- 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 53 

bution of their age classes, and are composed of many 
species, some of which are not valuable, he is sometimes 
forced by market values to do just what he ought not 
to do, that is, cut the best kinds and leave the poorer. 
But the difference between his operations and the lum- 
berman's would be, that he would make every effort to 
cut out and get rid of as much poor material as he could 
sell, even at a very small profit, and save as many of 
the more valuable trees as he could, both to grow and 
to act as seed trees. The form of a forest cut on these 
principles is bound to be very irregular and patchy. 
But most of our native woods, especially our virgin stands 
of hardwood, are of this character, and it would not be 
possible to at once bring them into the condition when 
the stands are comparatively even-aged. There is young 
timber in scattered bodies all through the forest, which has 
been growing for 10 to 50 years, and this must be allowed 
to mature. But on the whole, the aim of the forester in 
most cases should be to work for even-aged stands rath- 
er than to try to perpetuate a selection form of many- 
aged stands indefinitely. Greater yields are produced 
by the even-aged form, and the expense and difficulties 
of logging are much reduced. 

Changing a Selection Forest to an Even-Aged Form. 
— A good example of the choice between these two ex- 
tremes is to be found in stands of western yellow pine. 
This tree is so nearly fireproof and wind-firm that it is 
hardly ever destroyed. The old trees die singly and 
groups of young trees take their place. The whole form 
of the forest is open on account of the dryness of the 
soil. It would be perfectly possible to apply a selection 
system of cutting here, removing a few old trees each 
year. But the reproduction of the tree would take place 
just as well over large cleared areas if seed trees were 
present, and the expense of logging is such that it is ab- 
solutely necessary to cut as much from each acre as the 



54 FORESTRY 

welfare of the stand will permit. So the forest is cut 
in two operations. In the first cutting, about two thirds 
of the mature timber is taken. All the old, over-mature 
trees and those damaged or rotten or otherwise defec- 
tive, come out in this cut. The trees which are not taken 
are marked either with paint or by blazing with an axe. 
They comprise all the young rapidly growing trees, sound, 
with good crowns, capable of producing plenty of seed. 
If the stand is all over-mature, seed trees are selected as 
well as possible from these trees. A much larger per 
cent of the stand is left than in the seed-tree method 
previously described. The result of the first cut should 
be an even-aged stand of seedlings over at least half the 
area. After an interval of 30 to 40 years, the remain- 
der of the stand may be cut. There will be a great 
irregularity still, but the stand will be reduced roughly 
to two age classes, which is a great improvement over 
the original form. This scheme is being put into opera- 
tion very widely on National Forests in the Rocky Moun- 
tains. 

Reproduction of Even- Aged Stands by Successive Cut- 
tings.E=A more advanced system of reproduction by mak- 
ing several cuttings, is practiced in Europe with hard- 
woods, such as beech, where the young plants must spring 
up under the old trees. The forest has in the past been 
brought into an even-aged form. When the stand is 
ready to cut, a few trees are first taken out to give light. 
The seedlings at once start up. Then more of the old 
timber is removed and after three or four cuttings on the 
same area, it is all gone, leaving a dense and thrifty 
young even-aged stand in its place. Many of our trees 
could be handled in this way if the time ever came when 
we could, with high markets for all classes of wood prod- 
ucts and cheap labor, afford to cut any kind of wood at 
any time, and thus finally bring our mixed forests to the 
condition of pure or nearly pure even-aged stands. Heavy 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 55 

seeded trees like oaks, chestnuts and others, if they are 
to be reproduced from seed, must be managed by gradu- 
ally opening up the stand, so that there is light for the 
seedlings and the seed trees will not be too far off. But 
anything like the system used in Europe will not be pos- 
sible here for many years. 

The Sprout System. — The simplest method of repro- 
ducing a forest, and one which has been unintentionally ap- 
plied over vast areas, is to depend upon the sprouts. As 
all hardwoods sprout, we have only to be sure that the 
trees are young enough to retain this power, and to cut 
them at the proper season, that is, the dormant period 
of the tree's annual growth, and the second crop starts 
at once. These stands are even-aged if the area has been 
clear-cut. It is usually far better to make a complete 
cut than to select the best trees and leave part of the 
stand, if this method of reproduction is to be used. Some 
of our best species, as chestnut, are rather intolerant of 
shade. If many trees are left, the sprouts from a chest- 
nut stump soon become too shaded for good growth, and 
lose their upright form, spreading out sideways for light. 
Finally they may die and the productiveness of the stump 
be ended. 

Sprouts from trees which were originally seedlings are 
vigorous and apt to be sound. But in many places in 
New England, these sprouts have again been cut, giving 
rise to a second generation of sprouts. A third and fourth 
cutting may be made, but with each crop, the sprouts 
grow more, slowly, reach a smaller size and are more apt 
to be rotten, since they frequently become infected from 
the rotting stump to which they are attached. One of 
the most difficult problems of the forester is to renew 
such depleted sprout forests. This should be done by es- 
tablishing seedlings in the place of the old sprouts. The 
European method is to allow the stand to grow to an age 
at which the stumps have lost their sprouting vigor. It 



56 FORESTRY 

is then a simple matter to produce a crop of seedlings 
by gradual cutting in the old stand. With us, the same 
method might be adopted, but in stands containing a 
great deal of chestnut it is found that this tree sprouts at 
ages exceeding 100 y^ars. Sprouts always grow much fast- 
er than seedlings, and suppress them, so that it is difficult 
to establish seedlings in competition with sprouts, no mat- 
ter how poor the latter may be. Our general plans would 
have to be the same as in Europe, that of allowing the 
stands to reach as great an age as possible, saving the 
large trees until last, and thus killing out the larger num- 
ber of the old stumps by shading. To sum up, the sys- 
tems of silviculture in this country are, planting; clear 
cutting with reproduction from adjoining stands, by 
strips or by groups; selection cutting with a tendency 
to establish even-aged groups; removal of the stand in 
two cuttings on the principle of selection and seed trees; 
clear cutting with the reservation of a few seed trees, 
and clear cutting for sprouts. 

Unwise Legislation Regulating Silvicultural Methods. 
— ^A great deal is said about cutting forests to a diameter 
limit, and saving all trees below this limit. Laws have 
been recommended along this line. In a very rough way, 
such regulations might be applied to forests which could 
be cut on the selection plan, but for all other forests, it 
would frequently prevent the proper method of cutting 
necessary to secure reproduction. Even in the selection 
type, there are frequently stands growing in poor soil in 
which the trees never reach a large size and must be cut. 
It is not possible to embody such technical requirements 
in laws with any success, when the proper measures dif- 
fer so greatly with the forests and the markets. 

The Nature of the Investment Demanded by Silvicul- 
tural Operations. — In carrying out any of these systems 
in the woods, it is found necessary to modify the old meth- 
ods employed by the lumberman. Saving of waste in log- 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 57 

ging is not so difficult to secure. Any operator will cut 
low stumps, and take small logs from the tops as soon as 
he can be convinced that it pays him to do it. But all 
silvicultural systems call for the actual investment of 
money in the forest, in various forms. The portion of 
the stand, which is left, reduces the present cut, and since 
it costs just as much to build roads, the relative cost per 
unit of product is higher. The timber must be felled so 
that it will not injure any more young trees than nec- 
essary. This may not entail extra expense except in in- 
creased supervision and friction between the boss and the 
crew. But the disposal of the tops and limbs is always 
an open question. The danger from fire is in most dis- 
tricts so great that if this rubbish is left to dry out, there 
is almost sure to be a fire that will ruin most of the re- 
maining stand. The tops can in some cases be burned 
either in piles, or as they lie, without much damage, if 
done at the right season. On the Minnesota National 
Forest much of this burning was done in winter as the 
logging progressed, with great success. The rest was 
burned as soon in the spring as the piles were dry but 
before the ground dried out. For every 1,000 feet of tim- 
ber scaled, it cost from 12 to 25 cents to pile and burn 
the tops. But the resulting condition of the forest was 
more than satisfactory, and it has been a comparatively 
easy matter to keep fires out of the cut-over area. In 
spruce sections it is recommended that instead of burn- 
ing, the tops be cut down to lie flat on the ground, where 
in about two years they will decay and cease to be a 
menace. In portions of the southwest it is thought best to 
let the tops lie, and not to burn them, since the shade 
is beneficial to seedlings and owing to the scattered con- 
dition of the tops, the increase in fire risk is not very great. 
Local conditions will always determine what disposition 
to make of the tops. 



58 FORESTRY 

VII. FIRE PROTECTION. 

It is always necessary, and often far more important, 
to keep fire out of a cut-over tract, either after the brush 
burning or altogether. Reproduction will surely be des- 
troyed by fires and the most favorable opportunity to 
secure tree seedlings will be lost. Other kinds of vegeta- 
tion, as grass, weeds and worthless brush, at once come 
up in clearings, and these will, by sprouting seeds and 
root growth, survive fires while the seedlings will not. 
A plan for fire protection must be adopted as the most 
vital measure in any attempt to grow timber. State laws 
are a great help in securing the prevention of fires. But 
the methods of protection consist of employing men to 
patrol tracts and of constructing fire-breaks. Of the two 
more can be accomplished at less expense by a patrol. 
Most fires are started carelessly, and the presence of a 
paid ranger whose duty is to inform persons crossing the 
tract, of the necessity for caution in the use of fire, will 
reduce the risk greatly. Again, fires under most circum- 
stances start slowly, .^nd the prompt discovery of a blaze 
by the patrol gives a single man a chance to put it out 
without help. Should one get beyond his control, the 
ranger is able to summon help. Telephone communica- 
tion is almost indispensable on large tracts where help 
is scarce. The whole purpose of the work should be pre- 
vention and suppression of fires before they have time 
to get beyond control. 

Fire Fighting. 

In fighting a fire, tools are a necessity. A man with- 
out a weapon of attack is helpless. It is possible to cut 
brush and beat out a blaze, but this is a very insufficient 
substitute. In loose soils the long handled shovel is best. 
With this, sand can be thrown on the fire. Rakes, in open 
flat forest, or hoes on rough brushy or rocky ground, are 



HEEMAN H. CHAPMAN 59 

used to scrape out a path in front of the blaze, over which 
it cannot burn. These methods will work in fighting a 
fire burning along the surface in leaf litter. Such a fire 
does not travel very fast. Water is always useful, but 
is seldom available when wanted and cannot be carried 
any great distance over rough ground. When a fire is 
so situated that wagons can be driven in to it, water can 
be used best by dipping cloths or brush into pails and 
beating out the fire. A pail of water so used goes a long 
way, while if thrown on the fire it is wasted at once. 
Sometimes fire extinguishers can be used with good effect. 
They hold about two gallons and are a good load for a 
man. About 100 to 150 feet of blaze can be put out by 
one charge, so their use is limited to emergency calls, 
when a fire can be reached at once, and is apt to get be- 
yond control. Fires burning in tall grass or dry brush 
sometimes travel as fast as 5 or 6 miles an hour, and it 
is not possible jo light them by direct attack. Such fires 
must be checked by back firing. To start a back fire, 
some line must be found along which it is possible to 
set a fire that will bum against the wind toward the ap- 
proaching blaze. A stream, an old road — even a foot path, 
may be used. If none of these is present, an artificial 
line must be constructed, and the fire set along its edge. 
If the back fire can be prevented from crossing the bar- 
rier, it will put an end to the blaze. Even in smaller and 
less dangerous tires it is often more sensible to rake out 
a line at a little distance from the fire, and start a back 
fire toward it than to exhaust the men in beating out 
the main fire, where they will be bothered by heat and 
smoke. 

Fire-Breaks. 

But there are some places where the danger from fires 
is very great, because of accumulations of inflammable 
debris or long grass, and at the same time the property 



60 FORESTRY 

to be protected is quite valuable — as for instance, planta- 
tions of yoimg pine. It is not safe to trust to the ability 
of a patrol service to be on band with sufficient force to 
stop fires. Here artificial fire-breaks should be constructed, 
not so much with the idea that fire cannot cross them, 
as to give the rangers the best possible chance to set 
back fires and control the oncoming fire. Most of the 
mistakes in building fire-breaks have arisen either from 
the supposition that the fire-break jnust be wide enough 
to prevent fires from crossing or in forgetting that such 
fire-breaks, once constructed, do not stay clean, but grow 
up to inflammable grass and brush if not tended. Fire- 
breaks should be wide enough to check an ordinary fire, 
and to make it safe to set a back fire against a fire travel- 
ing on a strong wind. But a wind will blow a fire across 
almost any fire-break in the absence of a back fire, hence 
the absurdity of constructing very wide lines. In sandy 
lands, lines may often be plowed, and a fifty foot wide 
fire-line is more than sufficient. In most conditions, a 
break as wide as this not only means great expense in 
clearing, but the line soon becomes a jumble of briars 
and young growth and ceases to be a barrier to fire. In 
such cases, if old timber is standing the line should be 
run through the timber and consist of a well-cleared strip, 
perhaps not over ten feet wide under the crowns of the 
old trees, which will keep down the young growth that 
would otherwise spring up. The main point is to clear 
the ground of leaf litter, dead logs and brush, and ex- 
pose the mineral soil. In many places strips 3 or 4 feet 
wide, literally paths, serve the purpose of fire-breaks. 
Such lines have been constructed in southern pine re- 
gions to check the small annual grass fires that destroy 
the seedlings. The most difficult problems are in regions 
like the Adirondacks where a fire-line is not complete with- 
out a trench dug through the accumulated duff down to 
soil one or two feet below. Such lines have often had to be 

B — III — 13 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 61 

constructed hurriedly in the two dry summers of 1905 
and 1908, to stop fires from traveling underground. At 
least one estate has now begun the building of such a fire- 
line along their boundary to be in readiness in case they 
are threatened again. This line cost $250.00 a mile for 
clearing a space 16 feet wide and trenching two feet wide 
in the center. 

The expense of fire protection should not exceed 5 to 
10 cents per acre annually. This sum will not permit of 
much outlay on smkll tracts. A ranger should patrol from 
3,000 to 10,000 acres of land. In the west they are re- 
quired to guard far greater areas. It is this limit to the 
expense which prevents the construction of many fire- 
breaks, but there are often locations where it will evi- 
dently pay to construct one especially along borders of 
forests. On the Angeles National Forest near Los Angeles, 
Cal., over 100 miles of fire-breaks have been made aiong 
the foot hills and the crests of the lower ridges. In the 
mountainous region a fire-break should be placed either 
at the very bottom of a slope — or at the crest of a ridge. 
There is very little chance to make an effective fight mid- 
way up a slope. 

Fire Laws. 

So important is fire protection to the success of forest 
production that states have developed fire laws, and sys- 
tems of state fire wardens, to aid in securing the desired 
result. Practically the first forest legislation in any 
state has- been laws providing penalties for setting fires 
in woodlands. But like all other laws — to be effective they 
must be enforced. The duty of arresting offenders, and 
of extinguishing fires must be placed upon definite per- 
sons. The state of New York was first to pass a fire law 
of this character, and this was brought about mainly by 
the demand of the public that state lands held as forest re- 
serves in the Adirondacks be properly protected from fire. 



62 FORESTRY 

The original form of this law has been greatly changed, 
but other states copied the provisions and have in some 
cases retained the weak points. Minnesota is such an 
instance. In 1894, after the Hinckley fire, this state 
passed a law creating the office of Chief Fire Warden, 
and imposing the duties of town fire wardens upon the 
supervisors of each town. They were required to proceed 
to all forest or prairie fires and extinguish them, could 
appoint deputies, and employ men to aid in fighting fires, 
and submit accounts for such services to the county com- 
missioners who were to pay the bills and collect one-half 
from the state. A summons to fight fire was obligatory 
and refusal to go was punished by a fine. The warden 
could arrest anyone on sight who was caught in the act 
of setting fires, without stopping to procure a warrant. 
Most of these features are necessary to a good fire law. 
But it was found that town supervisors with the duties 
of fire warden thus foisted upon them by statute seldom 
took any interest in putting out fires and often ignored 
their duties altogether. In the organized towns of New 
York outside the state reserves, and in southern Maine, 
the same system still prevails with the same result. It 
is tolerated because in such agricultural regions there is 
not much danger from fires, and no one cares who is the 
warden. But where it was really necessary to secure pro- 
tection, a new plan was soon adopted which was a great 
improvement on the old system. The local fire wardens 
were appointed instead of having an elected officer serve 
ex officio as fire warden. In New York, the Commissioner 
of Forestry received the power of appointing wardens in 
towns within the forest reserves. 

These men were naturally selected for their fitness 
for the job, and were retained in office by reappointment, 
as long as they gave good services. This resulted in a 
great improvement in the efficiency and diligence of the 
wardens. Later on, New Jersey, after experimenting with 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 63 

the old plan of making town officials serve as wardens, 
changed her law so as to require these same officials to 
appoint a fire warden for the town, which choice must 
be approved by the state fire warden. Connecticut and 
Massachusetts both passed similar laws, in which while the 
town supervisors appointed the warden, the state forester 
had to approve of the appointment. A feature of all good 
fire laws is the office of state fire warden. Local wardens 
need the presence of some higher authority both to edu- 
cate and stimulate them in their duties, and to have the 
power, at least, of removing them if they are incompetent. 
Conservative states like Massachusetts did not wish to 
take the power of appointment away from the town, but 
allowed the state warden enough authority to accomplish 
the desired result of impressing the town warden with 
Ms responsibility to the state official. 

Fire Patrol. 

But the state and town fire wardens, however efficient, 
cannot control fires without the aid of public sentiment 
and the active support of land owners. Up to within very 
recent years, the sole duties of such officials were to ex- 
tinguish fires that were already started. But the proper 
way to keep out fires is to prevent their starting. To do 
this requires a fire patrol, which means the employment 
of men by the week or month, and paying them wages 
while so employed. Town fire wardens were in some 
states required to patrol their territory, and could ap- 
point men for this purpose, but usually nothing of the 
kind was contemplated. The obstacle has always been 
the cost of establishing an efficient system of patrols. Tax- 
payers do not appreciate the necessity for it, and will not 
vote for the appropriations. It is not imtil there is a 
lively demand for such service that the funds will be forth- 
coming to secure it. The increased effectiveness of paid 
patrols over town fire wardens has been demonstrated 



64 FORESTRY 

whenever the system is used. The State of Maine has 
for several years maintained a system of state fire war- 
dens in the unorganized wild lands of the northern por- 
tion. These lands are divided into districts over which a 
deputy fire warden presides, who can employ rangers. 
As but $10,000 was appropriated for this purpose, the 
land owners offered to pay the expense of rangers if the 
state would appoint them and a great deal more was 
spent by associations of owners in wages than the total 
state fund. But as each warden has the authority of the 
state behind him, the whole plan was satisfactory. A sys- 
tem was developed of building watch towers on high hills 
and establishing one of these wardens as a lookout with 
telephone connections, to report the first sign of fire. 
This plan was found to have great merits, as long as the 
fires were kept down, but with a smoky atmosphere the 
watch towers were no longer useful. The plan has been 
adopted in the West using mountain tops as stations. 

The idea of allowing owners of land to pay for men to 
patrol their lands, and secure state co-operation by having 
these men appointed as state fire wardens, was adopted 
on the Pacific Coast, in the states of California, Oregon, 
Washington and Idaho. Timber holdings of immense 
value were here constantly threatened by fire. Under 
state laws, associations were formed which now employ 
hundreds of rangers and at a cost of from 1 to 4 cents per 
acre have reduced the losses from fire to a small fraction 
of the former loss. This seems to be the fairest and sim- 
plest way to secure patrol on private lands. But it is not 
easy to bring it about except where lands are held by large 
owners, as corporations. An instance in Pennsylvania 
where the same principle is effective is the Pocono Pro- 
tective Association, consisting of a large corporation in- 
terested in protecting the head waters of streams for 
water flow, and a number of proprietors of summer hotels 
and parks. The law of Pennsylvania as it stands pro- 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 65 

vides that town constables shall be fire wardens, and in 
many sections it is a dead letter. But this association has 
secured by petition, the appointment of special constables 
to serve as fire wardens, and pays them a salary to patrol 
this district. Eewards are offered for the capture of per- 
sons setting fires and a campaign of education has been 
waged against the habit, formerly common, of burning the 
ground over annually. As a result fires have almost 
ceased in this vicinity. In many cut-over districts the 
annual fire is not thought to do any harm, and land owners 
are indifferent to its occurrence. Under such circum- 
stances no system of laws or wardens will stop the fires. 
State wide fire protection is an impossibility in many 
states until a much greater amount of interest is roused 
in the possibilities of our forest lands. This must be 
brought about by owners of lands who are willing to set 
the example of growing trees and to a large extent fur- 
nishing their own fire protection, with the assistance when 
needed of town fire wardens and state laws. 

Vin. TAX LAWS. 

Aside from proper fire laws, states can do more to en- 
courage private forestry by wise systems of taxation than 
in any other way. Forests are now taxed as real estate 
is taxed. As long as trees are regarded as so much lumber 
on the stump, waiting to be cut, the policy will be con- 
tinued of taxing this material as long as it is there to yield 
a revenue, with the knowledge that once cut there will 
be no further income to be derived from it by the local 
government. But this policy is only a part of the vicious 
system of destruction which is laying waste lands that 
should be kept in a productive condition forever. Since 
the returns on young timber are deferred until it reaches 
merchantable size, the longer the owner defers the cutting 
the more taxes he has to pay, and the less will his ulti- 
mate profit be. Such taxation stimulates and even com- 



66 FORESTRY 

pels forest destruction. Attempts have been made to ex- 
empt plantations from taxation for a term of years, or 
to give rebates on taxes for the preservation of small 
tracts of woodland in connection with farms. But these 
laws have not effected any improvement in the general 
situation and are mostly unoperative. The principle 
which meets with most favor among reformers is to tax 
annually only the land, on the basis of wild or unproduc- 
tive lands in the vicinity, and to tax the timber at the time 
it is cut. If this can be done, lumber will bear a fair but 
not undue burden of taxation, and timber may be cut or 
held at the owner's convenience. The private owner who 
desires to devote otherwise worthless land to growing 
trees should be assured of the protection of the state, to 
his investment, instead of as at present being left at the 
mercy of local tax assessors. 

IX. FOREST MENSUEATIOK 

Since forestry is a business as well as an art, it is im- 
portant to know what returns will be received from the 
use of land for tree production. The growth of trees in 
size, and their age, can easily be measured in all temperate 
zones, since the trees have a seasonal growth, and lay on 
annual rings which are usually quite distinct, although 
much more so with some species as pines and oaks, than 
with others as maple or basswood. Sometimes two rings 
will be joined in the same year, due to interruption in 
growth by reason of drought or defoliation by insects. But 
the extra or false ring can often be detected by its not being 
complete around the whole circumference of the tree. 
Since the age of a tree can be found by counting the rings 
on the stump, the measured volume, in board feet, or cubic 
feet, gives the average rate of growth of tree during its 
life. If the stump is high, it mav have taken the seedling 
two or three years to reach that heielit, in which case this 
period must be added to the age of the stump to get the 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 67 

true age of the tree. The volumes of trees are measured 
by foresters at 4J feet from the ground, or breast high, to 
avoid the swelling of the stump. This swelling is not regu- 
lar in different trees of the same diameter at breast high, 
and the volumes are more consistent for diameters at the 
latter point. By measuring a large number of felled trees, 
the average contents may be determined. If the trees are 
classified by height as well as diameter, and the contents 
of the different classes found, these values may be tabu- 
lated, giving us a volume table based on the diameter and 
height. 

Timber Estimating. 

Such tables are very useful in determining the con- 
tents of standing timber. The work in the field consists 
in measuring the diameters of trees and enough heights 
to determine the average. The volume of an average tree 
is found from the table, and multiplied by the number of 
trees of that diameter. If the diameter of every merchant- 
able tree can be actually measured, and a volume table is 
available, an accurate estimate of the standing timber can 
be obtained. But in most cases, time and expense do not 
permit of so much labor. Professional timber estimators 
resort to many short cuts to get at the result. The short- 
est and least accurate is to guess at the total, which can 
sometimes be done quite accurately by experienced men, or 
a strip is traversed on which all the trees are counted to 
a definite distance, say four rods on each side. In this way 
the estimator, or timber cruiser, seeks to get an average 
which will give him, without actually counting them all, 
the total number of trees on the tract. The volume of his 
trees is also gotten by an average, the cruiser merely 
guessing at the contents of the average tree. Each man 
may have a different method, but experience is the basis 
of them all, and the more painstaking men attain an accu- 
racy greater than could be expected by the use of such 



68 FORESTRY 

rapid methods. It is not uncommon in pine timber for a 
single man to estimate a half section or 320 acres of land, 
in a day. 

The method most used by foresters has been to meas- 
ure the diameters of all trees on a strip four rods wide 
run on compass courses straight through the forests. This 
is known as a valuation survey and gives the forester a 
good opportunity to make a map of the topography and 
types of timber during the running of the strips. 

Determining the Growth of Stands— Yield Tables. 

While the volume of standing timber may be quite ac- 
curately measured if time enough is devoted to it, the pre- 
diction of the growth of a stand is more difficult. The past 
growth of a single tree is easily studied, but this will not 
show what a forest or a single stand will produce. The 
laws of the growth of stands differ from those of single 
trees, for the number of trees in a stand is constantly dim- 
inishing with age. The average tree of a 50 year old stand 
will not be the average at 100 years, but may be crowded 
into the suppressed class or may even be dead. So the 
yield of a stand at 100 years of age is best found by meas- 
uring stands of that age, to find how many trees survive, 
and their total contents. If stands of all ages can be 
found, a series of plots is obtained which will show di- 
rectly in terms of stand per acre, the results that can be ob- 
tained by growing trees. European yield tables are so con- 
structed. In America the chief difficulty in obtaining such 
data is the irregular and poorly stocked condition of our 
forests. The stands actually present may not be more 
than half as heavy as the forest is capable of producing 
owing to damage from fire, and unregulated competition 
of poor species. Tables of this kind can only be made for 
even-aged stands composed largely of a single species and 
are used to predict the yield of plantations and of densely 
stocked stands. 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 69 

Current Growth of Stands. 

But it is possible to determine tlie present rate of 
growth or current growth of any stand. To do this the 
present stand is measured, to find the number of trees in 
each diameter class. Then the width of the last ten rings 
should be measured on several trees of each class. This 
can be done by making a slight notch in the tree or by 
the use of an instrument designed for the purpose, known 
as an increment borer. This will give the size of the tree 
ten years ago, at breast high. The volumes of the present 
tree and of the tree ten years ago, can be taken from a 
volume table, and the difference gives the growth in ten 
years. From this the growth of the whole stand in that 
period is easily determined. One way of overcoming the 
difficulties of predicting growth for long periods is to 
measure the crown space occupied by a dominant tree, 
and find its age and volume. We can assume with some 
degree of safety that an acre will grow as many trees of 
this size as there is room for the crowns. So difficult is the 
general problem of prediction of growth for long periods 
in our wild forests, that very few reliable figures exist 
which give yields per acre. 

Growth of Individual Trees. 

Most of the studies of growth have been made to show 
how fast the trees of a given species grow in diameter. 
Growth studies of this kind bring out many interesting 
facts if trees growing under different conditions are kept 
separate. The comparison of the rate of growth of spruce 
in old fields where it has full light, and the spruce grow- 
ing under poplar, shows an astonishing difference in favor 
of the old field spruce. 

Most figures on growth are shown by means of curves 
in which the increase in size, either diameter, height or 
volume, appears graphically by plotting the quantities on 



70 FORESTRY 

cross section paper over the corresponding ages. The 
curve may serve the purpose of getting a better average 
from figures which do not run evenly since the irregulari- 
ties may be evened out, and new values read from such a 
curve. 

This method is commonly used in preparing tables of 
volume and of growth. 

X. FOEEST VALUATION. 

When regular crops of trees are produced from forests 
which have been under management so long that the 
stands are even-aged and are producing the greatest pos- 
sible amount of wood, the yield can be predicted with some 
certainty. The market value of the product cannot be 
foretold except that it will probably be more valuable than 
the same class of product is at present. The expenses 
of planting, protecting the stand from fire and insects, thin- 
ning, and other care, and the probable amount of taxation 
can all be closely approximated from actual experience. 
From these data European foresters have calculated the fi- 
nancial returns from forest crops basing their profits on the 
margin left after paying all the expenses of the crop from 
its inception until it is cut, with compound interest on every 
item, at a fixed rate of interest. Such calculations cannot 
be employed in America except for similar conditions. 
For a plantation it is possible to compute the probable re- 
turns if we can assume the costs, yield and sale value. Such 
figures can always be made conservative so that we may 
be sure that the indicated profits will probably be exceeded. 

The most profitable time to cut a stand of timber is 
shown by these figures, which is, of course, the age at which 
the largest rate of interest is earned on the money invested. 
Stands continue to increase in yield to an advanced age. 
The value of each unit of wood also increases as the trees 
grow larger and produce clear timber, and there is a prob- 
able increase in general prices for wood independent of 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 71 

quality. But it will not pay the private owner to wait too 
long, even with this three-fold source of increase. The 
interest on his expenses, with no income to offset them, is 
compounding at a rapid rate, and will soon offset the in- 
creasing value of the crop. The practice indicated for such 
owners is to cut the crop as soon as it has reached mer- 
chantable size without waiting for the production of large 
material. 

The principles of compound interest and discount, when 
applied to forest finances, show exactly what one can ex- 
pect from forestry as compared with other investments in 
which the money would be tied up without returns for the 
same length of time. This knowledge not only prevents 
us from making wild statements about the profits to be 
derived from growing trees, but emphasizes the need of 
economy in all expenses. The best returns from white pine 
plantations in New England are 5 to 6 per cent compound 
interest, and in many localities with slow-growing kinds 
and poor markets the returns would at present be as low 
as 1 per cent or might not yield any margin over the taxes 
and other expenses. 

XI. FOREST POLICY. 

The interest of the private owner of land in forestry 
must remain largely one of financial profit, and the dangers 
to which his investment is exposed, from fire, taxes and 
unforeseen accidents, when combined with the extremely 
long periods he must wait for his crop, will discourage many 
owners, from lumbermen down, in attempting it. But as 
it was hinted at in the introduction, these drawbacks do 
not apply to forestry by states or the national government. 
Here interests which affect the welfare of the whole com- 
munity must be considered. Wherever it is conclusively 
shown that public interests will suffer if the forests are left 
in private hands there is sufficient reason for urging the 
government to undertake the work of caring for such lands. 



72 FORESTRY 

The Influences of Forests on Climate. 

The subject about wbicb there is the most dispute is the 
effect of the forests upon the climate and rainfall. Popu- 
lar interest is easily aroused on this theme. But a great 
many statements made for or against the beneficial effects 
of forests are not proven. A long series of records has 
been kept at European experiment stations established for 
the purpose of finding out the facts, and from such conflict- 
ing data, some points have been proved. The total amount 
of rainfall over a large area for a number of years is prob- 
ably not perceptibly increased by forests, though it is al- 
most impossible to prove this. Nor do forests have much in- 
fluence on storms of a general character. They may, and 
probably do, slightly increase the number of summer show- 
ers. The influence of forests upon the air under the crowns 
is to moderate extremes of temperature, both hot and cold. 
They are very effective in checking strong winds, so that 
not only within a forest is the air almost still on a windy 
day, but the effect is felt for a long distance on the lea side. 
Single rows of trees are planted as wind-breaks in prairie 
countries. Both by checking the wind and cutting off the 
rays of the sun, forests check evaporation and tend to pre- 
serve the moisture in the air and in the soil. The effect of 
moisture in the air is to check undue loss of heat by radia- 
tion and to dispel the direct heat rays of the sun. This 
largely accounts for the modifying influence of the forest 
on extremes of temperature. But taken as a whole, we 
cannot prove that the presence or absence of forests in- 
creases the rainfall or modifies the climate to a great de- 
gree, though all the evidence points for rather than against 
the theory. Nor is it possible to establish any connection 
between the destruction of forests in one region and 
changes of climate in an adjoining region separated by 20 
to 200 miles in distance. Whatever influence the forest has 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 73 

must of necessity be local, and will be felt, at most, only 
a Tery few miles from the forest borders. 

Influences of Forests on Streams and Soil Erosion. 

But when we consider the influence of forests upon the 
behavior of the water which falls as rain, and its influence 
on the soil and on streams, the facts are indisputable. 
Rain falling on bare soil hardens it by impact and decreases 
its absorptive power. In heavy downpours, the water, 
unable to sink into the soil, rushes off in surface streams 
which soon wash out gullies. The more exaggerated these 
conditions become, the more rapidly will the rainfall be 
drained into streams, causing sudden freshets, which de- 
stroy bridges and wash out or cover bottomlands with sand 
and boulders. Any influence which retards the flow of 
rainwater and increases the amount absorbed by the 
ground, will tend to equalize the flow of streams. This to 
a marked extent the forest accomplishes. The force of the 
rain is broken by the branches, while the leaf litter and 
other rubbish impede the flow of the water. The litter 
and humus cover, not only take up water in large quantities, 
but keep the soil porous below. Much of the water so ab- 
sorbed appears as springs and it is everywhere noted that 
the destruction of a forest cover causes springs to dry up. 
In many places, the retarding effects of forests on runoff 
have been compared by actual measurements and found to 
be very pronounced. Soil thus protected cannot wash. It 
is in mountainous regions that these effects are most 
noticed and here the need of forest protection is greatest. 

Government Regulation versus Government Ownership. 

For these reasons it is not safe to allow owners to re- 
move timber from steep mountain slopes, and in many 
countries laws are enforced regulating such cutting. But 
even in European states whose citizens are used to being 
interfered with by the government, it has not been easy to 



74 FORESTRY 

compel them to properly manage forests which must be 
protected. A better plan almost universal there is for the 
state to acquire the ownership of such lands, and with it 
the right to manage them wholly for the good of the depen- 
dent communities. In the French Alps, following the revo- 
lution, timber was cut on mountain slopes, which had prev- 
iously been protected. The effect is historical. Torrents 
formed and destroyed the fertile land in the valleys. The 
population dwindled to a remnant of the original numbers. 
The government finally began the work of controlling these 
streams by means of brush dams and forest planting, and 
has been wholly successful as far as the work has pro- 
ceeded. But in every case the title to these lands was first 
obtained by the state and under such management a repe- 
tition of the catastrophe cannot occur. It will be found that 
the movement for government and state management and 
ownership of forest lands has made the most rapid strides 
in mountainous regions. There is but little opposition to 
government ownership of forests on high mountains whose 
chief value is for protecton. In such forests there is sel- 
dom any cutting done, and if at all, it is managed under 
a system of selection which keeps the forest cover intact. 

History of National Forestry in United States. 

The movement for governmental forestry in America 
did not gather force until quite recently, and has reached 
its greatest development in the West. This was due to 
two facts. The national government still owned vast tracts 
of mountainous and forest-covered land there, and there 
existed a man who had the breadth of insight to see the 
future needs of the nation, and the strength of purpose to 
achieve his ends. Gifford Pinchot became the chief of the 
government forest service in 1897. The first large forest 
reserves were proclaimed in 1891 and had been much in- 
creased in size and number by President Cleveland in 1897. 
It was easy, after the proper legislative authority had been 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 75 

obtained, to declare government lands set aside as forest 
reserves. But it was not easy to bring about their proper 
management, and to make them useful to the people. This 
has been the work of Mr. Pinchot. The first task was to 
formulate regulations permitting the cutting of timber 
under restrictions, opening the reserves to legitimate min- 
ing and stock grazing, and protecting them from fire and 
trespass. The next forward step was the transfer of their 
management from the Land office of the Interior Depart- 
ment, to the Forest Service of the Department of Agricul- 
ture, where they would come under the direct charge of for- 
esters educated to understand both the objects of the re- 
serves and the methods of accomplishing them. The third 
and final stage, which is still in progress, was the education 
of the people of the West to the necessity and significance of 
government control and regulation of the use of the forests, 
water, and grazing rights, for the benefit of all. The pol- 
icy of the Forest Service has been clearly defined from the 
start. The settler and home builder receives first consider- 
ation, and this is most effectively accomplished by distrib- 
uting grazing rights on the basis of residence rather than 
influence. The title to water power is retained, for the 
benefit of the public, and a strong fight is waged constantly 
to prevent the passage of legislation tending to give these 
rights in perpetuity to power companies. Timber is sold 
to lumber companies, but the lumbermen on a National For- 
est can no longer neglect the future of the stand. Before 
any cutting is done, the needs of the forest are thoroughly 
worked out, and the logger is then allowed to cut only such 
trees as are marked, and must remove all merchantable 
timber, fell defective trees, and use them if possible, and 
take whatever measures to clear up the tops and rubbish 
as are considered necessary by the forester. Settlers are 
allowed free use of timber, under permit, for fuel and build- 
ing, and in every way the forest areas are made to contrib- 
ute as much as possible to the prosperity of the West. Not 



76 FORESTRY 

the least of these benefits is the protection which the for- 
ests afford to the water sheds from which are drawn the 
waters for irrigating the numerous valleys whose cultiva- 
tion is wholly dependent on this water. Much strong oppo- 
sition has been met, rising partly from ignorance of the 
aims and methods of the service, but more often from self- 
ish interests desiring undisputed possession of grazing, and 
other resources, and a chance to acquire timber and cut 
it as they pleased. In overcoming this opposition, Mr. Pin- 
chot has shown the qualities which Americans most admire, 
honesty, fearlessness and common sense. National forestry 
is, under his guidance, making rapid strides toward the 
attainment of the purposes for which it was designed. But 
the government has not yet committed itself to the policy 
of purchasing lands for forest reserves, no matter how 
pressing the apparent need. The only national forests in 
the East are found in Florida, Michigan, Minnesota and Ar- 
kansas, where public lands existed that could be set aside 
as national forests without purchase. A determined and 
well-sustained fight has been waged to bring about the pur- 
chase of mountain lands in the Southern Appalachians but 
without success. 

State Forestry. 

It is probable that in the East, forestry will be more 
extensively practiced by state governments than by the 
nation. 

Already several states have inaugurated the policy of 
buying lands for forest reserves. New York, the first state 
to do so, now owns in the Adirondacks and Catskills 1,655,- 
000 acres obtained largely by purchase. Pennsylvania has 
bought, or is under contract to buy, 967,000 acres of forest 
land around the headwaters of the streams flowing into 
the Atlantic, and can spend annually $300,000 for this pur- 
pose. New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts are 

B— III— 14 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 77 

spending small annual appropriations of from $3,000 to 
$10,000 in purchasing lands for state forest reserves. 

But states do not always establish reserves solely in 
mountainous land. Wisconsin has no mountains, yet she 
set aside all of her public lands in the northern third of 
the state as forest reserves, totalling over 260,000 acres. 
Michigan has made a beginning with 37,000 acres in the 
midst of a flat, sandy plain. These reserves must be justi- 
fied by something more than the effect of forests on the 
runoff or erosion. 

Agricultural Soils versus Forest Soils. 

There are two arguments to favor these reserves, neith- 
er of which is as yet accepted by the public as a whole. The 
first is that land may be too poor for agriculture and should 
therefore not be farmed, but devoted to forests, for which 
it is entirely suited. The second is that the state can go 
into the business of producing timber and succeed better 
than the individual, yet without injury to the interests of 
those individuals who wish to raise timber. As to the first 
proposition, could the truth be clearly set forth it would 
convince the most skeptical. Sandy land without a clay or 
compact subsoil will not retain either moisture or fertility. 
They are easily tilled but soon exhausted and even clover 
fails to maintain their fertility. Except when located in 
the near vicinity of large markets where truck crops can 
be grown, and the land heavily fertilized artificially, it is 
not possible to earn a good living on such lands. Areas of 
this character exist in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minne- 
sota, and in each state, it is found that such farms are usu- 
ally abandoned after a more or less protracted struggle 
with adverse conditions. Were this the final result, the 
question would be solved. But land speculators are able 
to obtain such lands very cheap, and by means of flaring 
advertisements, which may be read every day in the press, 
they attract from the city inexperienced victims who pay 



78 FORESTRY 

them ten times what the land has cost them, and in addi- 
tion give a mortgage which they are never able to pay off. 
If the original settlers failed, these later victims are sure 
to, and such lands become a sponge to extract the savings 
of land hungry purchasers. The only possible relief is for 
the state to acquire such lands and, by devoting them to 
forestry, not only put an end to this disgraceful swindle 
but aid in restoring such regions to a fair degree of prosper- 
ity which the presence of forests on the poorer land would 
insure. 

The State as a Producer of Timber. 

As for the state going into the business of producing 
timber, which is considered un-American in principle, it can 
be shown that in every way this will encourage individual 
effort along the same lines. It has always been true of 
wood products that the greater the quantity of a certain 
species produced in a restricted locality, the more profit 
there was in handling it. Operations could be planned on 
a large scale and all the costs of logging and marketing 
reduced, while at the same time the product became known 
and accepted as a staple article in manufacturing lines. So 
great will be the scarcity of wood in the future, and so 
comparatively little will be raised, unless the movement 
for reforesting waste lands proceeds much faster than now, 
that the combined efforts of state and individual will fall 
far short of the demand, and if wood is not to cease to be 
an article of trade, it is necessary that enough be raised 
to make it worth while to rely upon it in the future for man- 
ufacturing and other uses. State timber will help maintain 
the market for private timber. But in other ways state for- 
ests will benefit private forestry. Where states have estab- 
lished forest reserves, it is their policy to protect them from 
fire and to plant trees. The example and encouragement 
thus given to individuals makes it much easier for the 
latter to carry out plans for forest production. Some 



HERMAN H. CHAPMAN 79 

states, like Connecticut and Massachusetts, put this as the 
primary object of such forest reserves. But in the final 
analysis, it takes permanent ownership and a settled pol- 
icy to bring success in raising trees on a large scale. Pri- 
rate owners die and their estates are sold, or they change 
their minds and cut the timber and there is nothing to 
prevent these things. With states or the nation as owner, 
and a policy once strongly intrenched by popular support, 
the best possible opportunity is given to the forester to 
grow the timber which will supply our needs in the future. 
Eeal progress in forestry in any state will be largely meas- 
ured by the extent to which the state itself is interested 
in forest lands. 






II!III|IPI|I|IIII|III|| 



iiH 






A Reference Work 

Containinsr Hundreds of Practical Answered 
Questions about the Lumber Business. 

Some of the Subjects Treated: 

Points for the yard man on buying, storing and selling lumber. 

A practical treatise on lumber law, defining the rights of buyers 
and sellers, with particular reference to contracts of sale. 

Questions relating to contracts, to the acceptance of lumber and 
rights of consignee and consignor. 

Transportation problems, a labybrinth of complex, instructive 
and vital points of law and fact. 

Native timbers, their properties and uses. 

Production of the various kinds of lumber and methods of trans- 
portation. 

Mill construction and operation. 

Saw mill application and labor saving devices. 

Evolution of wood working machinery. 



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